'Awesome'...

...is usually used in a positive context, e.g.,

"Despite the bitchin', The Avengers is probably one of the most awesome(st) movies of all time."

However, the root word for 'awesome' is 'awe', and with that, well, just because you feel awed at something, doesn't necessarily mean that that something is a good thing.

[You get my thing?]

Case in point: your house is dangerously close to being overrun by zombies.

Since we're approaching December 2012, I do apologise for the reminder on the apocalypse, but I've been playing Plants and Zombies for a while now, and am loving every minute of it.

Back to the English lesson, nobody in their right mind (ha!) would use 'awesome' to describe this situation. Not even if you were a zombie, because then you'd be stuck outside with your fellow undead and, on the presumption that the human is home alone, there's only one brain to be had by all and sundry.

But if we use 'awesome' to describe the zombies en masse (there's really a lot of them outside your house), to describe their formidable numbers... we wouldn't be wrong.

That's the downside of 'awesome'. Size matters.

Now, the best (or, rather, awesome) thing about this word is that it can also describe a host of other things about our situation:

...like how your door's made of awesomely-strong oak, thus currently stagnating any zombie progress into your humble abode.

...the awesome house your awesome door is attached to; your house hasn't caved in yet despite all (if not most) of the undead within a 50-mile radius banging on your house walls.

[Or goodness knows what else it is they're doing to your house walls.]

...the fact that the apocalypse is already upon us and the Internet still works, making it an awesomely useless luxury.

...and finally, like you, dear awesome reader, who, in this hypothetical end-of-the-world situation, is still looking at this post.

[Thank you very much!]

Though I must say, I am pretty awesome myself for putting out a post at this time, what with all the zombies roaming about.


Last overuse of the word, I promise.