Stop Saying 'Awesome'

What does the word 'awesome' mean? Dictionary.com defines the word to mean: “inspiring an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration or fear.”

People always gloss over the FEAR part of the definition. The word 'awe' used to mean 'terror!' Something that is truly awesome is something that makes one feel small and naked and insignificant and afraid in the face of the vastness of the universe. Something that is awesome is something that elicits feelings of fear and terror. Today something that should probably be described as simply good is described as awesome.

Here is a short list of things that are NOT awesome:
Me.
You.
Anything you and I have ever done, including reproducing.
Anything you and I are likely ever to do.
Anyone you and I know, unless of course you just happened to be friends with J. Robert Oppenheimer. He helped create the atomic bomb, something that definitely is awesome.

Here is a short list of things that ARE awesome:
If there is a God or Gods, beings that are endless, beings that created the universe and everything in it, then being in the presence of such entities would be truly awesome. In every religion extant in the world today, such proximity to the Gods is never described in their respective scriptures as giving people the warm fuzzies. It produces terror!
Coming to the (in my opinion, more likely) conclusion that there are no Gods, that we are alone in the universe and that we, ourselves, are responsible for our own survival or destruction.
The afore mentioned atomic bomb.
Tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, volcano eruptions and any other natural phenomena capable of destroying us and/or the planet.

Ladies and gentlemen, I propose to you that the word that defines everything defines nothing. The over use of the word 'awesome' weakens the word itself and shows a serious lack of imagination and critical thinking. There is a whole host of words that we should be using instead. The sandwich you had for lunch was not awesome, but I bet it was good, maybe even very good. The movie you saw may have been impressive or even remarkable. Your spouse is hopefully attractive, perhaps even beguiling. But none of these things is awesome.