Kaitlyn Mostoller

3/5/17

Cool Americans

What does it mean to be cool? More specifically, what does it mean to be cool in the

eyes of an American? In one sense, the word cool is tied to a state of being composed. In

another, the word cool is used to make absolute social judgements (for example, You read

poetry? Thats not cool.), revealing that one key component of cool is its ability to describe

behavior and ideals that align with those of an in-group. The ideals of an in-group vary from

culture to culture, generation to generation, and from gender to gender. As a result, it would be

foolish to say in this paper that there is only one kind of American cool that is upheld in all

American in-groups across gender, generation, ethnic background, and geographic variances.

We can see then, that coolness is in the eye of the beholder. Coolness varies not only with

demographics, but with circumstance. For instance, a group of white males may perceive saying

the n word amongst each other with a tone of camaraderie rather than hate as cool. If a black

person were to be present, on the other hand, the script for coolness would change and would

certainly not call for use of the n word. It may appear that there are no cool absolutes that

are to be upheld in all situations and acknowledged by all Americans. However, by closely

examining changes in frequency of certain words (all frequencies in this paper are reported by

the Corpus of Contemporary American English) and characteristics of words that are used to

describe American in-group behavior, we can observe overarching principles of cool, both in the

sense of in-group behavior and composure, and what they reveal about American culture

I. Coolness As A Measure Of Emotional Restraint

 Slightly veering from the in-group behavior definition of cool, is the definition that

entails emotional restraint and is influenced by American assignment of temperature to

emotions. Americans associate temperature with intensity of emotion, which we can see in

several popular expressions that link heat with uninhibited expression of emotion. One such

expression is fiery passion (frequency of 9), which ties intense heat to intense, yet unspecified

emotion. Another example is hotheaded (frequency of 33) which, according to Merriam-

Webster, means easily angered and agrees with the idea that heat is linked to unrepressed,

unfavorable emotion. I hypothesize that there are several hot emotions in American culture,

which nearly parallel the list of negative emotions that Peter N. Stearns has laid out in the book

American Cool: Constructing A Twentieth-Century Emotional Style. These emotions include

unchecked feelings of sexual desire, anger, and jealousy. Note, however, that although Sterns

assigns fear to be one of Americas intolerable feelings, I do not believe it falls under the

category of hot emotions, as I have yet to find a phrase in American English that links fear

with heat. In fact, in an odd twist of events which holds true to Englishs preference of

contradictions, fear is associated with cold temperature as seen in phrases like frozen with

fear (frequency of 38) and icy fear (frequency of 9). This contradiction has done a great deal

to confuse me, as I had originally hypothesized that the link between heat and emotions

mirrored the link between emotions and activation of the sympathetic nervous system which

results in increased blood flow, and consequently, increased body temperature (Kreibig). Fear

activates the sympathetic nervous system in a manner that increases blood flow, so English is

not particularly prescribing to biology when tying certain emotions to certain temperatures
(Kreibig). It is possible that being frozen with fear does not refer to temperature, but rather

immobility, which can be a biological fear response.

Returning to the topic of coolness, cool is associated with lack of emotion. For example,

the phrase calm, cool, and collected reveals that being cool, unaffected by emotion, is an

integral part of maintaining ones composure (collected) and absence of internal conflict

(calm). In a way. The link between coolness and composure is more evident in other

expressions such as lose your cool (frequency of 20) which parallels the less veiled

expressions lose your nerve (frequency of 9) and lose your temper (frequency of 36). By

comparing these phrases, we can conclude that composure is a key element of being cool. It is

important to note, however, that losing ones nerve has a specific association between losing

composure due to fear and losing ones temper with anger, whereas losing ones cool is

nonspecific and can be applied to any set of emotions that cause composure to be lost.

When did this idealization of coolness, or composure become such an important part of

American culture? As a result of colonial ties to England, Victorian style behavior was initially

the dominant form of emotional expression in America. Many people ascribe repressed

behavior to the Victorian style, but this evaluation, composed by scholars and movie-watchers

alike, is far from accurate (Stern 20). In reality, Victorianism was marked less by a completely

negative view of emotion and emotional expression, but more by the idea that natural

emotions are essentially good, particularly when properly controlled and targeted (Stern 20).

This should make a good deal of sense, given that the Victorian era is chronological linked to

the period of romanticism in literature, music, and visual art. From this we can infer that the

Victorian script for emotional expression can be characterized by an appreciation for emotion,
and to some extent, sentimentality (Stern 20). This does not agree with the modern American

style of completely curtailing emotionality due to a cultural perspective that views emotion and

rationality as oppositional. Looking to middle-class advice literature, and in particular parenting

books, we can trace the shift from the Victorian style to the modern emotional style which

began to occur in the 1920s. Child-rearing books began to specifically instruct parents to avoid

invoking fear in children, rewarding feelings of fear, or even so far as displaying fear as an adult

parent (Stern 98). William Forbushs 1919 manual for child-rearing called for the eradication of

childhood fears by direct addressment on part of the parents. For example, He suggested that a

fearful child could be toughened up if parents prodded them into activities that directly

engaged with their fears like boxing or camping (Stern 98). Jealousy was also more frequently

addressed in parenting books as an absolutely negative emotion, which parents must avoid by

faithfully side-stepping favoritism (Stern 99). Although child-rearing books have provided

extensive insight to the shift from Victorian style perceptions of jealousy and fear to modern,

negative evaluations of such emotions, we must look to adult behavior rather than the behavior

of children to understand the shift that occurred regarding anger. With the Victorian style,

workplace managers were advised to provide channels for their employees anger. This aligns

with the Victorian ideal that emotions are not bad, but must be properly directed and targeted.

Beginning in the 1920s, however, managers were directed to encourage their workers to

ventilate their anger rather than channel it (Stern 122). In this manner, anger is not viewed as a

potentially beneficial emotion that can be translated into greater productivity, but an as an

absolutely negative emotion that must be diffused before it disrupts the workplace. As

addressed in the previous section, anger, jealousy, and fear juxtapose cool. From this we can
conclude that coolness began to arise in the 1920s when America abandoned its adherence to

the Victorian emotional style.

Although it is important to understand the when cool became an American ideal, it is

equally, if not more important to understand why cool became an American ideal. It appears

that evaluations of emotion shifted each for their own reasons, and there cannot be a

generalized event such as the Great Depression or a world war that serves as the single catalyst

of the abandonment of the Victorian style (Stern 194). The negative shift in regards to jealousy,

for example, can be attributed to the proliferation of coeducation and emergence of casual

courtship practices such as dating (Stern 195). The prescriptions against jealousy were

necessary in the face of rapidly increasing heterosexual mingling. Grief, which this paper has yet

to address but still is oppositional to coolness, was very much cherished by Victorians. Modern

American culture does not hold such high regard for grief. This is a result of the radical decline

of infant mortality rates and the general improvements in provision and access to health care

(Stern 194). In short, Americans died less often, so Americans began to devalue grief. The shift

in perception of anger was likely due in part by the increasing amount of women in the work

force. In Anglo culture, anger is a masculine emotion, so the workplace becoming more

feminine was a signal that anger cannot be in the workplace. Additionally, work itself became

more customer-service oriented and managerially bureaucratic, and thus people skills

(maintaining positive relations between customers, coworkers, and authorities) were valued

above channels for strong emotions like anger (Stern 214).

In conclusion, we can assert that American coolness is a form of emotional restraint

where the restraint is called for on the basis of a cultural paradigm that categorizes some
emotions as good and some emotions as bad. These bad emotions (fear, anger, jealousy, grief)

negatively affect ones composure which compromises a cool demeanor.

II. Coolness As A Label For In-Group Behavior

Now that weve discussed coolness as a measure of emotional restraint, it is equally

important to address its more modern adoption as a label for in-group behavior. Cool, in the

emotional restraint sense, can be a noun (lose your cool) or an adjective (calm, cool,

collected), but cool in the in-group sense can only be an adjective. This shows the fluidity of

cool behavior, because the noun form would require a more defined set of characteristics to

be understood. Coolness is fluid as American in-group behavior changes rather quickly, often as

a result of the behavioral whims of celebrities. Because celebrities have the power to sway

linguistic trends, it is justified to cite them as examples of in-group behavior for the purposes of

this paper.

How does linguistic politeness play into being cool? Merriam-Webster defines polite as

being marked by an appearance of consideration, tact, deference, or courtesy. Using a uniquely

American lens, we can define politeness as mindfulness of imposing on others. This definition

pays respect to the Anglo social expectation of non-interference and the preservation of

autonomy (Wierzbicka). Viewing politeness in this light, we can start to understand certain

American conversational norms for politeness such as avoiding direct commands in favor of

suggestion phrases. In order to avoid anglo-centrism, we can translate and, to an extent

simplify, these conversational norms into Natural Semantic Metalanguage. The cultural script

for the suggestion approach to influencing others can be defined like this:

People think like this:

When I want to do something,

It can be good to say something like this to this person:

maybe you will want to think about it

maybe if you think about it you will want to do it.

We will return to how this plays into being cool later in the paper, but for now it serves to help

us better understand how the American form of respect for the autonomy of others actually

translates into language.

Essentially, cultural scripts for politeness norms provide a roadmap for being a good,

culturally adjusted American. However, does being a good American always translate into

being a cool American? I do not believe so. To be cool, one must understand the appropriate

times to be polite and the appropriate times to break social expectations, regardless of if they

are intended to benefit the community. To those that believe being good (polite) is cool, I think

it is important to discuss the American phenomenon called the bad boy (frequency of 691).

Merriam-Webster defines bad boy as a man who says or does things that shock other people.

The element of shock results from bad boys refusal to adhere to social norms of goodness

(politeness can definitely fall under the category of goodness). It would be reasonable to

assume that such men are treated with contempt in American society for violating politeness

norms, as are essentially all other citizens, particularly immigrants or those not raised with the

particular customs and speech habits of American politeness, but that is not the case. In fact,

bad boys are praised for their counterculture behavior and marked as sexually desirable. There

are many hypotheses as to why this phenomenon occurs, and I believe one of the more

reasonable is that bad boy behavior is bold in nature, as is any intentional disruption of social
norms, and boldness is linked to strength and dominance which are perceived as masculine

traits in America (Pelusi). By referencing bad boys in this paper, the issue arises that there is

very little research on the subject (I suspect this is because the topic of bad boys and their role

in American society is viewed as a subject of only womens interest, and is then pushed aside as

a less valuable research topic). We can draw some conclusions on the concept of cool disregard

for politeness, however, by looking to bad boys of pop culture. The template for bad boy

behavior set forth by one of the earlier bad boys of pop culture, Elvis Presley, provides insights

on appropriate times and occasions to be inappropriate. Elvis was known for wiggling his hips

as a style of dance that was perceived as particularly sexual. Sex, during his time and today to a

lesser degree, was a taboo subject in America, so Presley overtly and intentionally drawing

attention to his gyrating nether regions could definitely be perceived as an act of impoliteness.

Elvis would dance in this provocative style during many of his songs, which is one of the reasons

why we can attribute the term bad boy to him. However, he never danced in that fashion while

performing one of his adopted classics, America The Beautiful as an act of respect for the

country. This reveals to us that there are bounds to American bad boy behavior, and that

expected respect for certain nationalistic ceremonies or events must be upheld despite other

violations of politeness norms. Similarly, although Michael Jackson grabbed his crotch during

the 1993 Super Bowl performance, where he had a massive audience of various ages, genders,

and ethnic backgrounds, he was never recorded doing so during a performance of the national

anthem or America The Beautiful. The boundary of respect for American nationalistic

ceremonies that bad boys must observe does not include respect for all forms of American

government. For example, the rap group N.W.A. (N***** With Attitude) gained national fame
as bad boys of rap for their song F*** The Police, which expresses intense discontentment felt

towards police that practice racial discrimination in American black neighborhoods. From this

we can gather that there is both a physical and linguistic component to bad boy behavior.

Returning to Elvis as a bad boy template, we can observe that bad boys violate the command in

the form of suggestion Anglo cultural script. Look at this excerpt from the Elvis song Dont Be

Cruel:

Don't stop thinking of me,

Don't make me feel this way,

Come on over here and love me.

Rather than softening his requests into suggestions, Elvis leaves them as commands to reassert

his bad boy status.

The term bad boy can only be used to describe cool behavior in men, and I have yet to

discover a feminine equivalent. This gives rise to the question, is American coolness a

specifically male quality, or can females be cool too? We can look to frequencies presented in

the Corpus of Contemporary American English to gain some further insights on the subject. The

phrase cool guy is three times the frequency of the phrase cool girl which suggests that it is

more common or perhaps easier for a man to exhibit cool behavior. Although there not a

phrase that links femininity with coolness, there is a phrase that that links gender neutrality

with coolness, badass. It is important to note, however, that the term badass has two

definitions, one of them being cool and the other being tough, uncompromising or intimidating

(Oxford English Dictionary). The second definition makes it particularly interesting that the term

badass can be attributed to women (four out of the eleven example sentences provided by the
Oxford English Dictionary used the term badass to describe women) because in Anglo culture

generally links toughness and intimidation with masculinity rather than femininity or even

gender neutrality.

On March 23, 2013, Chance The Rapper, an American rap artist and celebrity that we

can assume influences in-group behavior because of his status, tweeted I cant wait for it to be

cool to be a good person again. From this, we can see how a cultural conflict has risen in

America due to bad behavior being attributed to in-groups. Although being a bad boy or

badass may be cool, it still requires the breaking of politeness standards that have been

developed as a form of consideration for others. When these standards are broken, it is

possible that those who are subjected to the bad, cool behavior will feel insulted or

disrespected. The phrase nice guys finish last (frequency of 27) suggests lament from men

who would like to be kind to women, but understand that they must exhibit in-group bad

behavior in order to receive sexual attention. The popular YouTuber, Ryan Higa created a music

video and song addressing this cultural conflict called Nice Guys. This excerpt is particularly

revealing:

Nice guys finish last that's why I'll treat you like trash.

It's not what I really wanna do.

But you only date bad guys so I'll give you my best try to treat you the way you want me to.

I never open the door or pull out a chair

You can tell me how your day was but I dont really care

From these lyrics, we can conclude that being cool, or being desirable requires individuals to

deliberately violate linguistic and behavioral politeness norms, but these norms are so
ingrained that the individual can be expected to feel some degree of guilt for breaking them.

The phrase nice guys finish last extends beyond the realm of courtship and can be applied to

the workplace. I believe that its use in the workplace, however, suggests less of a violation of

politeness norms and more of a disregard for collectivist ideals. For example, a coworker must

decide to be friendly or rude to fellow coworkers in order to gain the favor of a manager,

whereas in the dating realm, a man must decide to be friendly or rude to the same person that

they are trying to gain the favor of. I predict that cool, as a description of in-group behavior, is

likely to change within the next century, as influential celebrities are expressing discontentment

with the current strive for social shock that is achieved at the expense of others.

The two definitions of cool, one being linked to emotional restraint, the other to in-

group behavior, do not appear particularly related. It is known, however, that cool in the first

sense preceded cool in the second sense. Perhaps being emotionally cool, being detached from

emotion or above emotion, has translated into being detached from societal standards or

above societal standards. Regardless, cool in both senses is a key concept in understanding

American emotional styles and trends.

 Works Cited

@chancetherapper. I cant wait for it to be cool to be a good person again. Twitter, 23 March
2013, 7:06 p.m.

Corpus of Contemporary American English, The

Presley, Elvis. Don't Be Cruel ; Hound Dog. RCA Victor, 1956. CD.

Kreibig, Sylvia. "Autonomic Nervous System Activity in Emotion: A Review." Autonomic Nervous
System Activity in Emotion: A Review. ScienceDirect, n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2017.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary, The

Nigahiga. "Nice Guys." YouTube. YouTube, 31 May 2011. Web. 06 Mar. 2017.

N.W.A.: Greatest Hits. Priority Records, 2003. CD.

Oxford English Dictionary, The

Pelusi, Nando, Ph.D. "Neanderthink: The Appeal of the Bad Boy." Psychology Today. N.p., n.d.
Web. 05 Mar. 2017.

Stearns, Peter N. American Cool: Constructing a Twentieth-century Emotional Style. New York,
NY: New York UP, 1994. Print.

Wierzbicka, Anna. Anglo Scripts. Web. 05 Mar. 2017.