Rhymes with Possum

Maybe I could be out on a limb here and ever so surely, becoming a curmudgeon but having no life at times, makes you concentrate on some of the more trivial things around you. For example: the over use of the word "Awesome." Bad as the over usage is, now it's pronounced by southern youth (as well as some baby boomers) as "ossome" which rhymes with "possum". Now where did that come from?

Now, Awesome itself is a word defined as inspiring awe, expressive as awe and showing or characterized by awe. However, it has crept into the lexicon of everyday blandness.

Typical uses could be, "I mowed the lawn this morning."

"Ossome!"

"No, it had to be done but I left a few streaks uncut."

You may think I'm nitpicking here but think about it the next time you hear your kid or someone else say, "Ossome!" Was it truly awe inspiring and will the folks from Guinness Book of World Records be rushing with sirens screaming and red lights flashing to record the "ossome" event?