vocab/age query

September 14, 2024 8:23 PM

Do you say amaze-balls? If you don't mind my asking, how old are you?
posted by Rash to Grab Bag (49 answers total)

no. mid-late 40s. mid-atlantic USA.
posted by glonous keming at 8:25 PM on September 14 [1 favorite]

Not as a rule. (Pushing 70, Southern California.) However, I would consider it if it seemed to fit the pattern of the other person's speech.
posted by SPrintF at 8:34 PM on September 14

I have, but not in several years. Mid-50s, US Southeast
posted by toodleydoodley at 8:34 PM on September 14

No, early 50s, mildly annoyed by the expression.
posted by less-of-course at 8:37 PM on September 14 [2 favorites]

Two
posted by Mr. Yuck at 8:39 PM on September 14 [1 favorite]

Yes, because it embarrasses my 12 year old.
posted by tristeza at 8:41 PM on September 14 [10 favorites]

No, age 47, though there was a short phase in their teens where my kids (currently 22-28) DID rarely say it, and I think I jokingly/sarcastically did once or twice. One of their friends - don't remember which one - massively over-used it.
posted by stormyteal at 8:43 PM on September 14

40, only ironically about 10-15 years ago. When the kids in my life reach that easily mortified tween stage I very well may deploy it once more, but only to bother them.
posted by Mizu at 9:00 PM on September 14 [3 favorites]

Sorry I forgot this part - I’m a 54 year old woman
posted by tristeza at 9:01 PM on September 14

No, I would feel ridiculous saying that. I'm in my early 60s.
posted by Redstart at 9:32 PM on September 14 [1 favorite]

55, hell no, nor would I ever. I have heard people use it in this area (Seattle born, Portland residing for the last 24 years), but not in a long time - probably at least 10-15 years? ish?
posted by pdb at 9:47 PM on September 14 [1 favorite]

Oh god no. I cant remember the last time i heard it, and even then im sure it was said ironically. mid-40.
posted by cgg at 10:20 PM on September 14

I am a lady of a certain age and I may have said it at some point ironically/sarcastically. The other night I heard somebody, it might have been Chris Flemming, use "people who still say amazeballs" as a shorthand for being terminally clueless and uncool.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 11:07 PM on September 14 [1 favorite]

My husband and I (50s) both say it but only to each other. We're both definitely terminally clueless and uncool, so that fits.
posted by Tanya at 11:15 PM on September 14 [5 favorites]

I've used it in a dead pan ridiculous way, because it certainly doesn't appear to anyone that it fits in my mouth, but even then not for ten years or more. 45 and Australian.
posted by deadwax at 12:16 AM on September 15 [1 favorite]

Mid-40s, UK, and occasionally yes in an ironic sense when speaking to people of a similar age. The word was popularised over here by The Only Way Is Essex which started in 2010. I never watched it (reality TV, urgh) but it was a bit of a cultural phenomenon over here and I never heard or used the phrase before then.

Although it seems like the word originated elsewhere, for anyone interested
posted by underclocked at 12:46 AM on September 15 [1 favorite]

No, never said it. 48, Australia.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 1:48 AM on September 15

Well I'm hesitant to say this considering previous answers but... yes? I probably only say it to close friends who know my weird sense of humor and I use it to convey a certain kind of acknowledged silliness. Like, I'd say a new candy snack is amazeballs but I wouldn't say Kamala's performance at the debate was amazeballs. I'm 48.
posted by kinsey at 2:24 AM on September 15 [1 favorite]

I've used it, but not with that weird hyphen stuck in it. What's that about?

To provoke the most delicious groans and eyerolls it needs to be texted in all caps: omg that music is AMAZEBALLS who is that

Australia, 62, parent of teen.
posted by flabdablet at 2:51 AM on September 15

Late 40s, US, yes, but only in texting, sparingly, selectively, with great joy, all caps, and no hyphen, mostly to describe a guilty pleasure / something that shouldn’t be great but totally is, e.g., “That random highway gas station burrito was AMAZEBALLS.”
posted by mochapickle at 3:50 AM on September 15 [1 favorite]

Mid-30s UK, and no I don't, but some of my friends do, as does my boss (who's in her late 40s). I also have a coworker around my age who unironically says "cool beans", which I wouldn't even use ironically myself. I suspect personality and personal relationship with irony have more bearing on usage than age or location.
posted by terretu at 3:58 AM on September 15 [2 favorites]

Mid-40s and I don't use it myself but it was a peer-group thing ten or fifteen years ago, I think?
posted by restless_nomad at 4:51 AM on September 15 [1 favorite]

Never heard of it. I am 61 and have lived around the USA, now in New Mexico. I don't say "awesome", either.
posted by NotLost at 5:10 AM on September 15

60, U.S., I don't know if I've ever said it out loud, but I've said it in my head. I've never heard anyone in person say it, so I expect I picked it up online, probably on MetaFilter.
posted by JanetLand at 5:13 AM on September 15

42, never. The only person I knew who used it regularly was an academic, perhaps five years older than me. I strongly associate the word with her and this question made me think of her immediately. I have not seen her in person in at least 15 years but I still read her email newsletter, which continues to have an "amazeballs" vibe; I can't recall whether it has recently been actually used.
posted by Kwine at 5:15 AM on September 15

I have written the word plenty of time, as an affectation. In speech I can't even use it ironically.

I'm early 40s, female, lives in NE USA.
posted by MiraK at 5:20 AM on September 15 [1 favorite]

Yes. With a certain subset of friends. 62.
posted by XtineHutch at 5:41 AM on September 15

In the distant past. 49 F

And I also say cool beans to my preschoolers.
posted by kathrynm at 6:33 AM on September 15 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I have a coworker around my age who unironically says "cool beans", which I wouldn't even use ironically, myself.

I had one of these co-workers also, in the early 1990s. I'm 70; that expression may be regional? 'Cause she was the only one I've ever.

not with that weird hyphen stuck in it. What's that about?

Until this point I'd only heard the expression (from people much younger than myself) and I wasn't sure about the spelling: 'e' or not.

Thanks for the Slate link, underclocked. It refers to Huffington Post entries which in turn refer to a Collins 'Dictionary Of Most Annoying Words' which doesn't seem to exist anymore.

I guess many tweens and teens make up novel ways of saying things, in hopes they catch on in a broader sphere than just among their friends; when I was in that stage I went through a lot of verbal experimentation (which was also no doubt annoying) - I'd pronounce 'amazing' as AH-muzing - but this was replaced when Mr. Spock made fascinating cool.
posted by Rash at 6:44 AM on September 15

I consider this saying to be awesinine.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 7:50 AM on September 15 [2 favorites]

A friend of mine (female, late-40s, in Texas), says it often in a "ironic or maybe not" way, or maybe a "it started ironic but now it's just what she says" way. She's a grown-up tattooed punk rocker and a magnetic personality, so maybe that's how she can pull off something so uncool as cool.
posted by umbú at 8:05 AM on September 15 [2 favorites]

I have said it this year in a joking "look at how ridiculously old and uncool I am" context on Discord. I am 49.
posted by MagnificentVacuum at 9:44 AM on September 15

Close enough to 50, I for sure say amazeballs, sometimes ironically, sometimes just because something is amazeballs. Occasionally things are shitballs too fwiw, but I think I got that from Laura Bailey.
posted by J.R. Hartley at 11:41 AM on September 15 [1 favorite]

Never ever have.
Probably because I’ve never heard it.
I’m 83.
So far.
posted by jan murray at 1:12 PM on September 15

I asked my 21 year old daughter if people her age ever say amazeballs and it turned out she had never even heard or seen the word. I guess its heyday was pretty short.
posted by Redstart at 1:27 PM on September 15

Not anymore. I'm 57, and I used it for about a year about a decade ago with one client, about a decade younger than I am, because she said it fairly often. We both used is ironically and enthusiastically, depending on the situation. My client graduated from my services, and I wasn't inclined to use it (or think about using it) after that.
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 4:47 PM on September 15

55, and I use it, but only in writing (text, email, chat, etc.) I also, unironically, use "cool beans." :D
posted by velvet_n_purrs at 5:26 PM on September 15 [1 favorite]

No. Just turned 71.
posted by forthright at 5:29 PM on September 15

Nope. 59F in US midwest. To be honest I don't know if I've ever heard anyone say it in person, though I've seen it online.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 5:43 PM on September 15

No. Age 74.
posted by Scout405 at 6:27 PM on September 15 [1 favorite]

48, midwest but spent formative adolescence and young adulthood in Florida. Would say "amazeballs" mockingly, but not unironically. Also "cool beans" ironically, if anyone wants to know. Often say "rad" or "awesome" unironically, though, and I'm one of those unfortunates who thinks "dude" and "man" function as interjections and expressions of extreme dismay.
posted by verbminx at 1:20 AM on September 16 [1 favorite]

I used to work for a man with a booming laugh who cursed like a sailor, but always at inanimate objects/code/etc. It was generally accepted that you weren't really in trouble with him unless and until he responded to you with a simple "Dude."
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 3:30 AM on September 16 [2 favorites]

I do not, but feel like I could. Its origins are in the late-aughts/early-2010s blogosphere. So I'd venture to guess that the folks who do say it range mostly from their mid-30s to late-40s now. Here's a Slate article from 2012 requesting it go away please.
posted by voiceofreason at 6:50 AM on September 16 [1 favorite]

32 and I would never say this. I've never heard anyone my age say it either, even when they're being uncool on purpose as a joke.
posted by birthday cake at 6:55 AM on September 16

46, female, haven't used "amazeballs" even as retro throwback in probably a decade, but clearly this post is the impetus for me to bring it back obnoxiously and hilariously :D But I will fully own up to continuing to use "cool beans," which I think I picked up in middle school and just never let go of.
posted by Pandora Kouti at 9:52 AM on September 16 [1 favorite]

41, female. I haven't used it recently, but I do remember using it in my younger years, perhaps 10-15 years ago. It was usually in an ironic way, and usually in an online, written context. I may have also occasionally used it with a select group of friends who understood my weird sense of humor.
posted by carnival_night_zone at 10:44 AM on September 16

Not anymore, but -balls as a suffix for names to turn them into pet names yes.
Late GenX
posted by St. Peepsburg at 1:14 PM on September 16

I don't know if I've ever used it but I can see where I might, in the right almost ironic but not quite possibly gently affectionate scenario. 61, female, says cool beans pretty regularly and semi unironically. I am that coworker.
posted by mygothlaundry at 2:11 PM on September 16

Age 50. I have never said “amazeballs.” I’ve never heard anyone else say it either, only seen it typed online. And not for quite a while, now that you mention it.
posted by Kriesa at 6:55 PM on September 16