before it was cool
- idiom
- Informal
:
antes de que fuera popular
- She started using reusable bags before it was cool.
Examples
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I started wearing vintage clothes before it was cool, long before they became a trend.
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She was a fan of the band before it was cool, attending their concerts while they were still unknown.
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He was wearing vintage sneakers before it was cool.
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They supported the indie band before it was cool.
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I liked that band before it was cool.
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She wore vintage clothes before it was cool.
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He enjoyed independent films before it was cool, often recommending them to his friends before they gained popularity.
How Trendy
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derivable from combining 'before' (prior to) with the clause 'it was cool' (it became fashionable); together they convey doing or liking something prior to its becoming popular. Although 'cool' is informal/slang, the temporal comparative structure is transparent and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents should be able to infer the intended meaning.
Etymology
The saying before it was cool comes from people bragging they liked something before it became cool ('popular'). So it means doing or liking something earlier than most people.