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Define "badass"?

#62
How to be a badass bassist...


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#69
mikeoso said:
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.
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I think the linguistic shift/cultural evolution of the term comes from the fact that there was always an implicit sense of envy or admiration when you identified someone as "badass". When you acknowledge the Army Rangers as "badass" you're not (just) issuing a warning; you're expressing a certain tacit-albeit-reluctant approval. You find something appealing about their lawlessness.


fretno said:
just like the word slut has evolved
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It has? I'm probably out of the loop...but unless there's been a hugely dramatic sea change in how kids are using the term nowadays, it still means more-or-less the same thing it did when I was in high school 40 years ago.
Although, now that I think about it... regardless of what it means I guess it seems like folks nowadays are way more polarized about whether it's a Good or Bad thing. When I was a kid it was possible to be ambivalent about whether or not someone was a "slut", but when I hear people discussing it now it seems to mostly carry an extremely negative judgmental connotation, with a few outliers who find it positive (and positively appealing).

Were TB's terms of service a bit more relaxed I'd start a thread "Who's The Most Badass Slut?" :)
 
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#70
mikeoso said:
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?
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this thread is baddass!
 
#79
Yeah, like with any word that devolves into a pop culture term for something desirable or trendy, it will take a word with intense or significant meaning and water it down to apply to almost anything likable. Devaluing a word does get on my nerves...and I'm barely in my 30s lol
 

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