Reihan: Kitsch Covers

I will take a principled stand. Kitsch covers of pop songs should be really excellent and faithful to the source material, like Ted Leo's celebrated "Since U Been Gone" cover. This Amanda Palmer cover of "Umbrella" is, as we used to say when I was a kid, "wack."

Have you found that your slang is now laughably out-of-date? I still like to say "rad." My plan is to stick with it, and have it become a kind of generational marker.