The Lexicographer's Rules

Is cool sweet? Is sweet cool? […] The two slang words more or less mean the same thing — as in “that’s a cool song” or “that was a sweet movie.” I have to tell you though, I’d never describe a movie the latter way. Even thinking about it makes me sort of cringe. Better to hear a cuss word than that word, that was once associated only with candy, or hearts, or plants that end in “peas.” I thought the “sweet” hatred was just some strange quirk in my psyche. But then a friend in Idaho brought up the subject. He’s a newspaper editor with a staff of young reporters. They meet weekly to gather story ideas and the conference room sounds like a nest of baby birds, he told me. Sweet! Sweet! Sweet!