[Magdalen] "insane"

[Grace Cangialosi]

Yes, my grandsons use it that way all the time--if something is brilliant or what we would call "amazing." I honestly never even thought of the traditional meaning of it until I saw this thread!

> On Feb 6, 2017, at 9:47 AM, Lynn Ronkainen <houstonklr at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> ...just thought about insane again, I've often heard it used where it could be a synonym of brilliant. Thinking about that further it's kind of an interesting flip. 
> Lynn 
> 
> On Feb 6, 2017, at 8:34 AM, Scott Knitter <scottknitter at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Terms that are used in a different way than when I grew up, but I like
> the new usage:
> 
> 1. "Sick" meaning intensely great: "I'm not a football fan, but the
> halftime show was sick!"
> 
> 2. "Random" meaning unexpected and odd: "Some guy shouted 'Hey!' in my
> ear on the subway. It was so random."
> 
>> On Sun, Feb 5, 2017 at 10:15 PM, Lynn Ronkainen <houstonklr at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Does anybody have any idea why the term "insane" seems to be complimentary or approving these days, especially in spam or clickbait, perhaps in modern slangy language, as the word "bad" was (mainly only for teenagers) a few years ago?  Teens, of course, delight in having their own language that confuses older people, cementing their age-group as an in-group, then the teens 5-10 years younger have totally stopped using it in that way, and the ones who originally used it seem to have also stopped, but "insane" appears me to be in spots attempting to reach the adult population.  It does have its normal connotation of "weird" or "unusual", but it also appears to have an approval, "superlatively good" message attached.  I only began noticing seeing it used this way in the last 5-10 years, and it doesn't seem to me to have the feel of an in-group thing, but to be in contexts aimed at everybody.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Scott R. Knitter
> Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois USA