Smoking
Smoking
Very hot.
Slang has long used temperature as a measure for quality, but in the last few years, the descriptors cool and hot have been buried beneath a cacophony of creative jargon. The new era terminology that is stemming from these thermometric roots (think ‘lit’) is a direct result of the popularization of rap. Beyond simply borrowing terminology, the free-associative thinking that pervades what the Nielsen Music report called the most popular genre of 2017 is bleeding into everyday speak. When Takeoff says he’s walking around with a “pocket full of cottage”, he’s not offering a word but a new formula for slang generation.
Smoking
Inhaling vapor.
A new documentary on the ’98 French national team features players smoking during the off days of their World Cup-winning campaign. This disregard for now-accepted fitness practices complicates any best-of-all-time argument. Our understanding of health and recovery continually evolves, and athletic output with it. Comparing a team that relaxed to a pack of smokes with one attended to around the clock by a team of trainers, massage therapists, and dietitians is simply a moot point.