13 wonderful, whimsical words to express approval

Slang evolves with every generation, though certain awesome terms have epic linguistic legs. Enjoy these groovy words that have gained favor among hipsters and swells.

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What’s your favorite word of compliment or admiration? How do you express approval?

These are important questions for each generation of young people, who want a vocabulary all their own. Of course, what’s hip, rad or rippin’ today might not be so groovy tomorrow.

Slang words wax and wane in popularity, but here are 13 ways to convey something’s A-OK:

1. Ace. Meant to convey “top quality,” as in the highest playing card in a standard deck of cards. A “flying ace” in World War I meant a pilot who had shot down five or more planes in combat. A student who gets an A on a test can say, “I aced it!” but once upon a time, it was used as a positive exclamation: “Ace!” meant “Great!”

2. Awesome. GenX youth popularized the use of this word, though it has since been nearly “pummeled into obsolescence.” Awesome originally meant “producing terror,” then “full of awe” or “awe-inspiring.” More recently, it has been used for anything that’s moderately interesting (such as rocks, socks and clocks in the “Lego Movie” song “Everything Is Awesome.”)

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