{"id":55827,"date":"2014-05-26T15:27:08","date_gmt":"2014-05-26T15:27:08","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2014-05-26T15:27:08","modified_gmt":"2014-05-26T15:27:08","slug":"define-cool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digiblocks.ca\/29secrets\/pop-culture\/daily-whisper\/define-cool\/","title":{"rendered":"Define “Cool”"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Finally, we know what it means to be "cool." (And it probably begins with me not tying "cool" in quotations.)<\/p>\n

According to a study by the Journal of Consumer Research (and broken down for us non-scholastic folk by The Atlantic), the theory of "cool" is comparable to that of humour: the Superiority Theory — a.k.a the fact that we laugh at things that make us feel and seem superior.<\/p>\n

BUT that obviously doesn't apply to all jokes, and like jokes, coolness is also undefinable — in a way. As defined in a paper by Caleb Warren and Margaret C. Campbell, "Coolness is a subjective, positive trait perceived in people, brands, products, and trends that are autonomous in an appropriate way."<\/p>\n

Huh?<\/p>\n

In the words of Atlantic writer Derek Thompson<\/a>, "cool is a measured violation of malign expectations." So: being cool means being a rebel (in a way).<\/p>\n

"Cool means departing from norms that we consider unnecessary, illegitimate, or repressive — but also doing so in ways that are bounded," Thompson writes. "The 1984 Apple ad that said, essentially, 'You have a choice; don't buy IBM!" was considered one of the coolest commercials of all time, becaue it was, in the researchers words, 'autonoumous in an appropriate way.'"<\/p>\n

"But an Apple ad saying, 'You have a choice; don't pay federal income taxes!' wouldn't be cool, because taxes are legitimate," he continues. "And a 1984 Apple ad saying 'Burn IBM's headquarters to the ground!' wouldn't be cool because that's just overdoing it. Cool requires a bit of Goldilocks."<\/p>\n

So applied to say, trends, crop talks are "cool" because they challenge typical and safe style conventions. On the flipside, wearing only a bandeau to work would be less so because a dress code is legitimate. (You usually agree to one when you begin working someplace.) Meanwhile, not wearing a top at all would be overdoing it, too — and for what?<\/p>\n

There needs to be something to rebel against — enter: normcore, and its rebellion against alternative fashion. But odds are you still won't see a sweatsuit at fashion week because it's taking the trend too far. You also won't see a onesie pajama set. Basically, cool is just rebelling enough. A fine balance. Yet nothing like the book by the same title.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The universal theory of “cool” has been found<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67426,"featured_media":80011,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[64593],"tags":[79771,79772,77178,79774,79773],"class_list":["post-55827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-whisper","tag-wedding-ideas","tag-wedding-inspiration","tag-synthetic","tag-reception-table-setting","tag-wedding-blogs"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDefine "Cool" - 29Secrets<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Cool has finally been defined. 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