Define "badass"?

[flyingfinbar]

You’re just old.

It’s ok, I’m getting there, too.

 

[okcrum]

I see a lot of use of the word "badass" to describe people and objects. It bemuses me. Where I came from, badass meant people who you seriously did not mess with, because they were capable of and inclined toward exaggerated acts of physical violence. When I hung out in South Chicago and when I served in the Marines in the '60s, the badasses were people who might kill you if you irritated them. "Badass" meant scary. The Blackstone Rangers were badass. NVA sapper teams were badass.

The badass didnt come from costume, and you couldnt talk your way into being thought a badass.

Now I see the word applied to bass headstocks, power stances, makeup, and paint jobs. A strap can be badass. People discuss whether a 35" 4 string bass is more badass than a 34" 5 string. Can someone please explain this linguistic shift? Does badass just mean trendy now...is "badass" the new "cool"? or do people now actually think that a spiky bass or strap with chrome studs really makes you physically intimidating?

Every superlative term in the lexicon has been hijacked and/or overused at some point. Badass, awesome, epic, awesomely epic, awesomely epicly badass, the list is nearly endless. When we run out of existing words, someone invents a completely new one, or a new and totally (see?) incongruous usage of some benign existing word.

 

[nnnnnn]

Where does the slang word "bad" + "ass" (badass) come from?

 

[Chickenwheels]

In his new book, Geddy Lee says he put these on all his Rickenbackers (if I recall) to improve sustain. Also started putting them on Fenders then determined they didn’t need them.

Sustain and basses. Badass concept.

 

[dxb]

A badass is somewhere between a ruffian and a scalawag, but with the countenance of a ne'er-do-well.

 

[Kipp Harrington]

I see a lot of use of the word "badass" to describe people and objects. It bemuses me. Where I came from, badass meant people who you seriously did not mess with, because they were capable of and inclined toward exaggerated acts of physical violence. When I hung out in South Chicago and when I served in the Marines in the '60s, the badasses were people who might kill you if you irritated them. "Badass" meant scary. The Blackstone Rangers were badass. NVA sapper teams were badass.

The badass didnt come from costume, and you couldnt talk your way into being thought a badass.

Now I see the word applied to bass headstocks, power stances, makeup, and paint jobs. A strap can be badass. People discuss whether a 35" 4 string bass is more badass than a 34" 5 string. Can someone please explain this linguistic shift? Does badass just mean trendy now...is "badass" the new "cool"? or do people now actually think that a spiky bass or strap with chrome studs really makes you physically intimidating?

It’s a subjective term that has specific meaning to the individual applying it to an object, lifestyle, etc. More often used as an adjective than a transitive verb.

 

[retslock]

Language is an ever changing thing and words take on new meanings over time. I wouldn’t put to much importance on it. Throughout the years since my youth, words such as mad, sick, growly, rad and bonus have all been assigned the general meaning “good”. These days you would be very uncool if you used any of them. Slang is never eternal. Go with it or not, up to you.

 

[Aidenn7]

Lemmy

 

[Watchootognbout]

Attitude with ability.

 

[Whippet]

people still use this word?

I thought they threw these types into prisons.
And no one has any money to buy those stuff.

 

[nilorius]

It is when ever, where ever you sit down on something, something very bad always happens in 10m circumference.

 

[two fingers]

You kidn me? I have 7 and 9 year old girls. The English language has gone NUTS!

See something cute? It's "soops adorbz". That is to say it's "super adorable".

See something badass? It's either "sick" or "soops kray", which is to say "super crazy". The extreme version is "soops kray kray".

Badass ain't nuthin'. I could go on all day.


Words morph all the time. It's what we do.

 

[Kirk Bryant]

Badass;
It’s when you realize you ate way too much Habanero salsa with too much Tequilla the night before. You get a “badass”!!

 

[Nashrakh]

I wish "far out" would make a return. That would be groovy.

 

[tgriley62]

 

[tgriley62]

I wish "far out" would make a return. That would be groovy.

Gee, that would be both swell and nifty. Maybe I'll name my first band the "Cleaver Beaver Band"

 

[Slevage]

View attachment 3262299




Have you seen the bridge?

Where’s that confounded bridge?

 

[4001]

Jimmy Johnson

Percy Jones

Gary Willis

Jaco Pastorius

 

[Goldmember]

I wish "far out" would make a return. That would be groovy.

I can dig it, Nash.

from the Brady Terminology dictionary:

• groovy: 1. Marvelous or excellent. 2. To have or possess groove.
• far out: Wild and exotic in a marvelous or excellent way.
  
• funky: Far out in a pleasant and groovy way.
  
• heavy: 1. To be weighted with great importance. 2. To be regarded with importance and admired.
  
• out of sight: Excessively far out.

 

[FugaziBomb]

is "badass" the new "cool"?

It's not even really that new. I've been using it since the 90s...