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« Love Many, Trust Few Cool As A Cucumber »

Cool Beans

Posted by Admin on September 22, 2016

When you hear someone comment with cool beans (aka kewl beans, kool beans, and cool beanz), it means that the speaker approves of the comment or the situation that prompted him/her to say cool beans.  Not only is this an idiom, according to Time magazine, it’s been in the Oxford dictionary since 2014.

For fans of the sitcom, “Full House” which aired from 22 September 1987 through to 23 May 1995, DJ Tanner used the expression so often that fans and followers of the show followed suit.  But the writers of “Full House” weren’t the originators of the expression.

The idiom shows up in Marlene Fanta Shyer’s book “Grandpa Ritz and the Luscious Lovelies” published by Scribner Books (an imprint of Simon and Schuster) in 1985.  There on page 30, this appears:

“It’s cool beans!” That’s what Betsy always says when she thinks something is fantastic, and I couldn’t help wondering what she’d say if she could see me now.

In the 1960s, quaaludes, amphetamines and barbituates known as uppers and downers were referred to as cool beans because they resembled jellybeans. They were also known as beans, wacky beans, and cool beans.

The drug-induced positive reaction would therefore be attributed to cool beans thereby creating a positive impression of cool beans.

The reference to cool beans didn’t appear elsewhere in Idiomation’s research. While cool beans as an item is from the 1960s, the expression indicating approval is from sometime between the 1960s and 1985 when it appeared in Marlene Fanta Shyer’s book.

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This entry was posted on September 22, 2016 at 8:00 am and is filed under Idioms from the 20th Century. Tagged: 1960s, 1985, 20th Century, cool beans, cool beanz, Full House, kewl beans, kool beans, Marlene Fanta Shyer, Scribner Books, Simon and Schuster. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “Cool Beans”

  1. Erik's avatar

    Erik said

    September 28, 2016 at 8:25 pm

    I have a good friend who says this all the time. So much so that we call her “Bean”

    Cool Beans!

    Reply
    • Admin's avatar

      Elyse Bruce said

      September 30, 2016 at 3:05 pm

      Isn’t it funny how some people get their nicknames, Erik? I wonder if your friend’s descendants are going to ask themselves how she got the name should any of them become genealogists.

      Reply
      • Erik's avatar

        Erik said

        October 2, 2016 at 10:51 pm

        That’s a good point. Perhaps we’ll have to leave a written record.

      • Admin's avatar

        Elyse Bruce said

        October 4, 2016 at 3:33 pm

        Written records are how I’m able to trace idioms and sayings back so far. 😉

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