How did the word awesome become so popular?
California and was used to describe the beauty of huge, ocean waves, sunsets, good pot, pretty girls, etc. Widespread usage began in the ’80’s with movies like Fast Times at Ridgemont High and later Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. I can’t recall if the Valley girl lingo included it or not but most of the credit or blame goes to the California culture. Actors like Owen Wilson probably help to sustain its popularity. The soft “aw” makes the word easy to pronounce as well as to hear. At least, the word has a generally positive connotation unlike the overused word “bogus”, dude…
