cool presence

[keannu]

What is "cool presence" here? "nice existence"? What is "toss the word around "? Is it a metaphor for using it a lot?

ex)It doesn't seem to take much to be a hero these days, especially in the new media. A football player who scores the game-winning touchdown or a goalkeeper who saves his team from a loss is often called a hero....In addition, we are glad to praise an animal as a hero. A dog sniffing around on a bench discovers an abandoned baby in a box and he becomes a doggie hero to us...A neighbor pounds on the door of a burning house to wake up the occupants and we call him a hero, too.
Of course, I don't mean that they don't have some real bravery, or some cool presence of mind, or at least some good citizenship involved in those incidents in which we find our heroes. But when we toss the word around too freely, when we diminish its value through overuse, it leaves us without a word to adequately describe a person whose instintive courage trancends that of the ordinary hero..

[Gillnetter]

What is "cool presence" here? "nice existence"? What is "toss the word around "? Is it a metaphor for using it a lot?

ex)It doesn't seem to take much to be a hero these days, especially in the new media. A football player who scores the game-winning touchdown or a goalkeeper who saves his team from a loss is often called a hero....In addition, we are glad to praise an animal as a hero. A dog sniffing around on a bench discovers an abandoned baby in a box and he becomes a doggie hero to us...A neighbor pounds on the door of a burning house to wake up the occupants and we call him a hero, too.
Of course, I don't mean that they don't have some real bravery, or some cool presence of mind (Does not panic easily, remains calm.), or at least some good citizenship involved in those incidents in which we find our heroes. But when we toss the word around too freely (Use the word too much, in this case, use the word to describe someone who did an act that was not heroic but somewhat normal.), when we diminish its value through overuse, it leaves us without a word to adequately describe a person whose instintive instinctive courage trancends transcends that of the ordinary hero..

Gil

[keannu]

Gil

Thanks a million!!!

[SoothingDave]

"Presence of mind" is the expression. "Cool" is describing the presence of mind, as Gillnetter explained.