I hate how “cook” is used as both a positive and negative slang now

r/

It used to be “he’s cooked” meant “he’s done for” or “it’s over for him”, but now “he cooked” and “let him cook” ambiguously means the exact opposite, and both versions of “cook” are now being mixed in regular speech.

I never down the new slang that the kids try to make happen, but using an existing slang and switching the meaning to its exact opposite is annoying.

Comments

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  2. JohnnyKarateX Avatar

    I mean bad means good to some people.

  3. plankingatavigil Avatar

    Being the cooker is good. Being the cookee is bad. That’s always been intuitively the case. 

  4. UrineTrouble05 Avatar

    i mean… you are either the one cooking or you are the one being cooked, it’s pretty simple for me

  5. Modsaremeanbeans Avatar

    Slang is just a form of fashion and not everyone will like certain trends. I dont think this is an unpopular opinion. 

  6. _antioxident Avatar

    let him cook isnt really bad, it means your doing good or making a good point.

    a lot of words have double/context dependent meanings. it’s not new or unusual.

  7. Tight-Efficiency8367 Avatar

    Same thing with sick and a bunch of swearwords

  8. Low-Complex-5168 Avatar

    You’re cooked (Cooked = Adjective) = bad

    Versus

    You cooked (cooked = verb) = good.

    Hasn’t it basically gained a new grammatical role rather than switching the meaning?

  9. CplusMaker Avatar

    GET OFF MY LAWN!!!!

  10. yuejuu Avatar

    if the person doing the cooking is “winning”/doing something successfully, then it makes sense that the person BEING cooked is having the opposite happen to them -> losing to somebody/in some way. idk it makes sense to me.

  11. guyincognito147 Avatar

    Bruh they are still the same meaning just one is a verb and one an adjective. 

  12. KingNothingV Avatar

    Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan – 1982

    Carol Marcus, proudly showing Kirk the success of the Genesis project: “Can I cook or what?”

  13. KeeperOfUselessInfo Avatar

    please, both contexts have been use longer than the internet. this is not new. from early both has been used and the earliest record for let him cook/he cooked is pretty much reported in the early 1800s and cook as in he’s done for from the 1920s.

    “now”?

    no.

  14. DaveyDumplings Avatar

    Can’t decide if this opinion is shit or the shit

  15. RareSiren292 Avatar

    A singular word having 2 drastic different meanings depending on context isn’t anything new. Take the word “bomb”. Saying “John sang karaoke last night, he’s the bomb” and “John sang karaoke last night, he bombed”. In the first one John did amazing. In the second he did very badly.

    Other words can have a ton of different meanings. “Fuck” being one of the more popular ones.

  16. Skate_faced Avatar

    If you’re old enough, you’ll remember when stupid meant three things. Good, Bad and Dumb.

    Sometimes there is no saving or stopping slang.

  17. bootsandchoker Avatar

    It’s contextual and the surrounding letters matter. Which is how language works lol. I feel like your point has no point at all.

    It’s the difference between “This is shit” and “This is the shit.”

  18. SubAussie_ Avatar

    Okay but you cooked (good) vs your cooked (bad) there is very clearly a difference that I really don’t understand how you don’t get that at least with those two in particular

  19. AfraidEdge6727 Avatar

    I doubt any of them could compete in the kitchen.

  20. TGWsharky Avatar

    You’re shit vs. you’re the shit

    You’re dope vs. you’re a dope

    Cooked (adj) vs. Cooked (v)

    Tale as old as time

  21. Riotousbingo Avatar

    It’s all about Context

  22. jenkinsdonut Avatar

    This take is so cooked it cooked

  23. theholyman420 Avatar

    Roasting is a kind of cooking. Maybe that helps

  24. BigDaddyReptar Avatar

    you want to cook not be cooked very easy to explain.

  25. kvakerok_v2 Avatar

    When someone is cooked it’s bad, but when someone is doing the cooking, it’s good. The meaning doesn’t fluctuate. There’s plenty of verbs like that: he’s f-d vs he’s f-ing.

  26. five_of_five Avatar

    I’m fucked, this guy fucks…this is a you problem.

  27. I_Like_Metal_Music Avatar

    What about “she’s a bitch” vs “she’s that bitch”? There’s a lot of examples of this that isn’t new slang.

  28. Uhhyt231 Avatar

    When has this not been the case?

  29. dumbozach Avatar

    God forbid unc finds out about all the different meanings “shit” has

  30. my_name_isaac2 Avatar

    I hate how “sick” can be a good or bad thing now

  31. Ornamental-Plague Avatar

    It isn’t based off old slang it’s based off the word the old slang was based on. The old slang retired so new slang developed.

    You essentially hate the flow of time, and that your word isn’t used enough anymore. That’s weird, just start using it.

  32. StandardHazy Avatar

    Context Is key OP.

  33. Philipthesquid Avatar

    If I cross you up in basketball, I cooked you and you got cooked. By me.

  34. Mighty_Eagle_2 Avatar

    What? How about you killed it, vs you got killed? Normally opposites mean the opposite.

  35. Shakes-Fear Avatar

    Context is everything.

    You say someone is shit and they’re a bad person, but you say someone is THE shit, and they’re a legend.

  36. ModsCantRead69 Avatar

    How’s it any different than “sick”

  37. TheSeedsYouSow Avatar

    You know what, you kind of cooked with this. But you’re probably gonna get cooked in the comments.

  38. potandcoffee Avatar

    I mean “let him cook” implies that he is cooking something. “He’s cooked” implies he is the something being cooked. It makes sense that one is negative while the other is positive.  

  39. DisplayAppropriate28 Avatar

    Several English words already do that, this is just one more.

    You can both “cleave to” a thing and “cleave apart” a thing. You can be sanctioned to use the store bathroom, or sanctioned from using it. You can be fast, as in moving, or hold fast, as in not moving.

    They’re called contronyms, we’ve got a few, always have.

  40. Longjumping-Action-7 Avatar

    being cooked is shit, but cooking is the shit

  41. StaticMania Avatar

    The negative connotation is newer than the positive one…

    It’s like…associated with The Rock.

  42. Krypt0night Avatar

    No different than waaaaay back when people used “bad” for something being good. Wasn’t confusing then and this is even more clear what the person means.

  43. CKSide Avatar

    How I think of it:
    If you’re holding the pot. You’re good.

    If you’re in the pot. You’re bad.

  44. RedditCommenter38 Avatar

    Well fire, “dumpster fire”, or “that was fire.” “What’s good?” Can be both a threat and a greeting.

    “Peace”, can be used as a greeting, interjection, invitation, or a farewell.

    These are all examples of Polysemy:

    “When a single word or phrase has multiple related meanings (e.g., “fire” as literal flame, something exciting, or a disaster).”

  45. GrooveProof Avatar

    being a man that is cooking has historically always been better than being a man that is on the grill  

  46. Comfortable_Key_6904 Avatar

    Not bad meaning bad, but bad meaning good – Run DMC

  47. Ivoted4K Avatar

    I like it.

  48. HellVollhart Avatar

    OP is cooked. Don’t let OP cook.

  49. drkole Avatar

    I envy your worry free life that you have time and energy to spend on hating such a insignificant thing

  50. jtnoble Avatar

    Why do I feel like I heard it the opposite way as you? I started hearing cook in a positive form before a negative form.

  51. Additional-Try-6178 Avatar

    OP you kinda cooked with this one fr fr

  52. littledipper16 Avatar

    I’ve read cook so many times in this thread it no longer sounds like a real word.

  53. fuck-illinois1621 Avatar

    This is arguably one if the most obvious slang terms if you think about it for long enough. I wouldn’t want to be cooked, as in lit on fire, I would like to cook as in make good food