Cowan Palace: Connecticut Dad Bans “Amazing”

Ashley amazes you with her amazingness.

I’ll make it short and sweet this week, folks. Will mentioned it in his piece yesterday and Charles kindly gave us a shout out earlier this week but in case you hadn’t heard me wailing into the night, our wedding day is just nine days away and we’ve been a bit preoccupied with it.

I’m also writing this somewhere between Philadelphia and San Francisco on a late flight home sitting near a sweet Amish couple and a grandma wearing festive socks listing different types of spices.

I had the pleasure of heading back east to be a bridesmaid in my best friend’s wedding (not as dramatic as the movie). When my dad picked me up the airport, it wasn’t long before he shared his current distaste for the word “amazing”. Our conversation went a little something like this:

Dad: I’ve banned the word “amazing” from our house.

Ashley: Okay.

Dad: There’s a Facebook group devoted to the cause.

Ashley: You’re not on Facebook.

Dad: No, I’m not.

Ashley: Hashtag ironic? (Said in my sexiest reality TV show baby voice.)

Dad: So no more “amazing” in the house.

We then went out to breakfast and it was delicious.

I guess I hadn’t really thought about how much I use the word or some of the other words on my dad’s hate list (which also include: passionate, baby bump, and man cave for those of you following Ashley’s dad trivia). But over these last few nights on good ole Winding Lane, boy did I!

Right before we left to return to the airport, we somehow managed to catch the tail end of some reality show about weight loss. When the woman featured in the program came out and said she had lost 150 pounds (half her body weight!) I said, “wow, that’s amazing.”

My dad stopped me. “It’s what?” he repeated a few times before I caught on. “No, it’s actually amazing.” I said. And explained that I truly thought her achievement was worthy of such a description. Even though we were watching a scripted reality show.

He granted me back my speech.

My dad’s main point is that the word has managed to take on a new meaning with the social media/reality show loving world we live in. He’s passionate, whoops – sorry, he feels strongly about words and believes they deserve better. And as a writer who has a weakness about blogging pop culture references, that struck something in me. I’ve certainly used the word “amazing” when I experienced something that did not cause me to feel “overwhelmed with great surprise and wonder” and I’m also too confident that I’ve given that line to a character or two without thinking twice.

So in your honor, Dad, and as part of a bizarre Father’s Gift (how will my siblings ever compete?!), I promise to be a bit more selective with my words. At least this week. And in any case, your daughter still thinks you’re pretty cool… perhaps even, amazing.

The Cowan Family getting their Cowan on and thinking about words.