Just like the famous line in the Dark Knight, "You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." On April 13, Neil deGrasse Tyson did this with a tweet. In the tweet, Tyson bemoaned the use of the word "awesome" by today's younger people.
No one on Twitter took kindly to this and let him have it.
'Awesome'
In the original tweet, Tyson decried the use of the word awesome. He said that people didn't use it for trivial things such as food or television shows, instead, he said that people used the word awesome for those who walked on the moon or cured Polio. Once he uttered those words, Twitter freaked out.
One of the more surprising responses to Tyson's small rant was Merriam-Webster's Twitter account. Instead of a diatribe explaining how the usage of the word awesome has evolved over the years, the account just answered back with one simple word: "Neil." The account seemed to be urging him to lighten up about it.
There was also the usual name calling. After he uttered his complaint, some people took to Twitter to call Tyson a "nerd". The name calling is making fun of the nature of his complaint and doesn't seem to be meant as an insult. Another user went as far as calling Tyson a "mansplainer" for telling people how to use the word awesome.
Then came the memes. To make fun of Tyson, one person used the mocking Spongebob meme which outlined how others heard Tyson complain. A second meme compared Tyson to Grandpa Simpson with the show's famous newspaper headline, "Old Man Yells At Cloud." Suggesting that Tyson is showing his age complaining about how things have changed instead of accepting them.
Not The First Time
This is the third time in the last three years that Tyson took to Twitter to vent frustration about the usage of the word awesome. His first two mentions of the word awesome were also complaints about how it is being thrown around. These occurred twice in 2015, and users on Twitter were quick to point out that he had previously complained about it.
Other users on Twitter also took time to point out that Tyson was guilty of the same thing he was complaining about. In one instance, Tyson said that a table tennis match between two octopuses would be awesome. In the second instance, Tyson used the word awesome to describe the aim of the asteroid chunks from the film Armageddon.
Tyson is usually on the side of good. He disproves the Flat Earth Theory and goes against budget cuts to science education made by the government.
