Some Thoughts About "Chilling"

The Santa Fe Teaching Zoo in Gainesville, Florida is not just teaching advanced concepts in Zoology. With this gigantic, male alligator, they are inadvertently changing the nature (pun grossly intended) of some dictionary definitions. If you look up a modern definition of "chilling" you may find something like: "a state of non-activity or relaxation". A punchy and jovial definition might look more like this: "a smiling, male alligator lying mostly in the shade on a pleasant Florida morning". And if you wanted to get really heady with it try: "the complete opposite of the uncontrollable awe and fear one feels when seeing this huge, male alligator with body completely prostrate to the ground, who is feeling nothing but dominance and power over the meager presence of the humans watching him, which if he wanted to, he could find a way to eat if he wasn't continually given fresh meat by that generous zookeeper".