How awesome? So awesome

One of my favorite regular sites to visit is Penny Arcade. It's a web comic mostly about video games and game culture. In addition to the comics, which are enjoyable on their own merits, the writing is really sharp and consistently comical from a language standpoint.

I also love the basic themes that always reappear: the intricacies of nerd culture and a general apprehension of all things popular culture.

One of the phrases turned by Jerry Holkins (the language half of the creative team - Mike Krahulik does the art) several years ago appears in the below comic: the phrase "How awesome? So awesome". I use it on a regular basis now and I've seen it creep into regular use in many places since then. As a general fan of language, I find it interesting to watch the evolution and adoption of a turn of phrase into the general cultural lexicon. Any examples of this phenomen that you've witnessed?

Posted by Royce at 9/29/2009 11:45:00 AM
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6 comments:

  1. RoyceSeptember 29, 2009 at 12:53 PM

    I'm hoping that comic re-sizes so it fits the blog post. I think I butchered the presentation of this phrase but I wanted to convey the sort of cultural anthropology that is going on here. It's a turn of phrase that was tossed out there and stuck. I think the PA use is the earliest I've seen (Jan 20, 2006) but I could be wrong.

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  2. CaitlinSeptember 29, 2009 at 1:53 PM

    I definitely think you've hit on a really cool topic! I (sadly) allow a lot of geek speak to get into my everyday too. I usually realize it when I use it around a group of people and they are staring at me blankly.....
    There's the pop-culture version too i.e. - "bananas" "I die" etc.
    By the way, I'll be in L.A for business next week - where are you located?

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  3. RoyceSeptember 29, 2009 at 4:13 PM

    I live in Santa Monica and work in Mid-Wilshire area (near Beverly Hills), where are you gonna be?

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  4. AaronSeptember 30, 2009 at 9:53 PM

    If you like nerd related humor, you need to visit xkcd.com. This particular comic is why Jessica spends all day at work watching TV shows, watching movie trailers, playing Bejeweled Blitz and Farkle.

    Take a look at the comic, then be prepared to spend a few hours looking through all it has to offer. The over-simplified graphics mean the focus is on the writing, just what you're looking for Royce.

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  5. RoyceOctober 1, 2009 at 9:13 AM

    I am already a big fan of xkcd.com and I'm very familiar with their archives haha

    I am a big fan of their gaming related comics

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  6. RoyceOctober 1, 2009 at 9:27 AM

    Also xkcd's random culture comics are clever too

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