1. (Adj.) The state of being extremely chill, as an American, anywhere in Italy. Ironically without “correct” pronunciation; awkward for both Italian or English native speakers.
2. (subdef.) specifically re: chill things that are also subjectively not chill, yet in assertion of their chill-ness in the face of someone else’s judgement there against.
>> drinks aperol on beach in Sicily at the wrong bar surrounded by guys in suits
Chillissimo
>> Conan O’Brien shouting “tagliatelle” at strangers on the street as Jordan Schlansky tells him stop doing that, it’s offensive
Chillissimo (for Conan)
Not chillissimo (for Schlansky.)
>> some randomBrit (neither American nor chill) vandalizes Roman archaeology
when you're holding up your phone and making faces at it, as though you are taking a selfie, but you're really taking a picture of the person across from you or the wall or anything else that seems interesting but you don't want to be caught dead taking a picture of.
This action is often made more convincing by wiggling the eyebrows or opening the mouth, to pretend you're trying to get a Snapchat filter to work.
The grindset is a contemporary ideology of self-exploitation disguised as strength, deeply tied to the aesthetics of the “sigma male” and to new digital forms of patriarchy. It promotes the idea that human worth depends on productivity, economic success, absolute emotional control, and the ability to work endlessly, turning vulnerability, rest, community, and tenderness into signs of weakness. Beneath its rhetoric of discipline and power often lies a profound inability to relate healthily to pain, fragility, and human interdependence.
“That’s the grindset, brother. While weak men sleep and complain, sigma males stay disciplined, work in silence, suppress emotions, and build power while everyone else wastes time chasing comfort.”