Is ‘coolth’ catching on?

The temperature is 90 F and rising. Seems like a good time to discuss ‘coolth’. Just as we have ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ paired as opposites, and ‘warm’ and ‘cool’, we also have ‘warmth’ and ‘coolth’. But, ‘coolth’ is used far less often than ‘warmth’ and retains a note of humor in its usage. Is it perceived as witty precisely because it is still a novel term, relative to the oh-so-commonplace ‘warmth’? Is ‘the coolth of the evening’ more zippy than ‘the cool of the evening’? My online dictionary cites an example illustrating that ‘coolth’ is not restricted wholly to temperature, but has adopted the metaphoric meaning of its cousin ‘cool’ conveying ‘hip, fashionable’ as in ‘the pinnacle of 1960s coolth’. What about metaphoric extensions to personality traits? How many times have we heard or read ‘the warmth of her smile’ or ‘there was no warmth in his voice’. Is ‘the coolth of her smile’ a little too awkward? I confess my own linguistic intuitions are feeling pretty comfortable with ‘there was a noticeable coolth in his tone during the speech.’ Or, perhaps it’s just the heat that is addling my brain. 🙂

4 Responses to Is ‘coolth’ catching on?

bbear says:

August 28, 2010 at 1:04 pm

I don’t think you can say ‘coolth’ three times fast. In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening was a song back in those innocent and slightly cloying days before the leading edge of the Baby Boom began its Shermanesque march through American popular culture. Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer wrote it for the 1951 movie Here Comes the Groom and it won an Academy Award for Best Original Song. The duet recording by Bing Crosby and Jane Wyman was a hit that year, and it’s been recorded by a number of others too. Here’s the Johnny Mercer lyric, chorus alternating with verse…

In the cool, cool, cool of the evening
Tell ’em I’ll be there
In the cool, cool, cool of the evening
Save your pappy a chair
When the party’s getting a glow on
And singin’ fills the air
In the shank of the night
When the doin’s are right
Well you can tell em I’ll be there

I like a barbecue
I like to boil a ham
And I vote for bouillabaisse stew
What’s that?
I like a weenie bake, steak and a layer cake
And you’ll get a tummy ache too
We’ll rent a tent or a teepee
Let the town crier cry
“All’s well!”
And if it’s RSVP
This is what I’ll reply

In the cool, cool, cool of the evening
Tell ’em we’ll be there
If you need a pair of freeloaders
To fracture your affair
I may even give them Pagliacci
Now stand back and give him air
If one can relax and we’ll have a few yaks
And you can tell them we’ll be there

“Oui,” said the bumblebee
“Let’s have jubilee.”
“When?” said the prairie hen, “Soon?”
“Sure,” said the dinosaur
“Where?” said the grisly bear
“Under the light of the moon.”
“How about your brother, jackass?”
Everyone gaily cried
“Are you coming to the fracas?”
Ain’t gonna blow it
“And all the respects,” he sighed

In the cool, cool, cool of the evening
Tell ’em I’ll be there
In the cool, cool, cool of the evening
Stickum on my hair
If perchance we look a bit peeked
Remember c’est la guerre
If we’re still on our feet
And there’s something to eat
Well you can tell them we’ll be there

In the cool, cool, cool of the evening
Tell ’em I’ll be there
In the cool, cool, cool of the evening
Better save a chair
When the party’s getting a glow on
And singin’ fills the air
If there’s gas in my hack
and my laundry is back
If there’s room for one more
And you need me
Why sure
If you need a new face or a tenor or base
If I can climb out of bed and put a head on my head
Well you can tell ’em we’ll be there.

achouston says:

September 1, 2010 at 4:45 am

Wow, that’s an amazing set of lyrics. What’s the film about?

Hailey says:

September 26, 2011 at 7:15 am

You could not be more factual

http://tinyurl.com/go18foot20546 says:

February 4, 2013 at 11:06 pm

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