Three Rules of Cool

The word "cool" has survived through many generations. Cool was there when Miles Davis recorded "The Birth Of The Cool" in the early 1950's and was still going strong when TLC's "CrazySexyCool" album was the backdrop to your "re-elect Clinton" party in 1996. "Cool" was cool when "bad" became good and when "off the hook" became "off the chain". The question is, what is truly cool? There are three distinct rules to defining cool with few exceptions. Are you cool? Probably not.

1. Cool Doesn't Know It's Cool.

The coolest people on the planet have no idea they are cool, or how cool they are. They are infinitely cooler than the hipster doofus who gets you drinks at the trendy downtown bar where you go to listen to indie rock. That guy (or girl) is acutely aware of how cool they are, which is exactly what makes them far less cool than the old guy wearing suspenders and whittling on his front porch that you meet on your road trip through Vermont. If an old guy whittles in the middle of Vermont and no one is there to admire him, is he still cool? Actually, he just became cooler precisely because no one is there to admire him. You see, the crème de la cool have no idea that what they are doing or listening to or wearing is cool until a bunch of people wearing vintage rock tees and skinny jeans come along and declare coolness. Ironically, at that point things become far less cool. The ideal state of cool is one where you are confident in who you are and what you like and notice that no one is laughing.

2. Cool Doesn't Advertise.