Awesome

If I were asked...which word in the English language...in the twenty-first century...from inappropriate and prolonged popular
usage...has lost it's original meaning...I would say that the word "awesome"...is the choice...by a country mile. The internet
dictionary definition of this word is: "Inspiring awe or admiration or wonder". My example of its appropriate usage would be
what the followers of Moses could have justifyably said...as the Red Sea parted before them. Instead...for some time now...I have heard it used...as a response...in situations like...someone declaring to his friends...that he has ordered...a double cheese burger with fries...someone saying she has written a haiku about the flooding of New Orleans...[N.B. What Hurricane Katrina did to cities on the Gulf...may be described...appropriately...with the word in question...but a haiku about it...even before it is heard...despite the ego involved in thinking there are words to describe something such as this...not.]...someone commenting on a t-shirt he bought at a department store...with the words "2010 Olympics" on it...as if he had just scaled Mount Everest. The list goes on and on. Everyone should know...that trivialities such as the ones noted...can never be appropriately described...by the word being discussed. There's got to be a reason why this word is used so prevalently...these days...in our culture. Some suggestions why: Lazyness...fear of using a vocabulary of more than fifty words...talking without thinking,,,being automatic in one's responses...wanting to make who you're talking to...with a similarly depleted bank of words...feel at home. On the other hand...the usage of this word...might simply be expressing...a sense of wonder and appreciation...at the slightest thing brought to your attention...in a world where...instead...you could so easily be excluded from the conversations of others. If that is the case...all I have to say is..."awesome!"............................Quester.