By the 16th century, the definition of cool had evolved from a temperature setting to a meaning of calmness or rationality. Vuolo also provides an example, "A 'cool hand' reaches out from more than three centuries ago, a 'cool customer' gains purchase, and we’re all kindly asked to 'keep cool.'” It's meaning then changed again in the 1940's. Ben Zimmer, author of "When 'Cool' Got Cool" explains, "In jazz circles, cool (as in 'That's cool,' 'He's cool,' or simply 'Cool!') first came to be associated with sax player Lester 'Pres' Young in the early '40s...that same year, music critics picked up on the use of cool to describe a new, more relaxed style of jazz" (par. 5). After that, cool became a very popular term
By the 16th century, the definition of cool had evolved from a temperature setting to a meaning of calmness or rationality. Vuolo also provides an example, "A 'cool hand' reaches out from more than three centuries ago, a 'cool customer' gains purchase, and we’re all kindly asked to 'keep cool.'” It's meaning then changed again in the 1940's. Ben Zimmer, author of "When 'Cool' Got Cool" explains, "In jazz circles, cool (as in 'That's cool,' 'He's cool,' or simply 'Cool!') first came to be associated with sax player Lester 'Pres' Young in the early '40s...that same year, music critics picked up on the use of cool to describe a new, more relaxed style of jazz" (par. 5). After that, cool became a very popular term