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Entry tags:
me, me, me
The subject line really says it all for this one. Be forewarned.
People like to classify things; people like to classify people. (Gross overgeneralization? Maybe, but not by much.) It's an interesting sort of phenomenon of mental laziness; it's part of where all sorts of stereotypes come from and I'd imagine it's also part of the perpetual popularity of horoscopes. And it's an interesting sort of vehicle for playing the compare/contrast game with what people think of themselves versus what other people think of them.
And the other day I was informed that I am evidently an earth person (in terms of a loose sort of set of elements, earth fire air water and various combinations thereof; someone in this particular hallway conversation was a volcano, someone else was a glacier, someone had just plain water, I think someone else was a thunderstorm). Which is interesting because insofar as I've given thought to such things it's the last one I'd assign myself. I had water nicknames when I was a little kid (for instance, a cousin and I were "the beautiful dolphins") and if we're playing the horoscope game, I'm Pisces, mutable water (occasionally much too emotional for my own good); on the other hand the Chinese zodiac puts me at fire tiger (mmm, fire); I'm on the cusp of Aquarius, an air sign, and on the silly but fun online quizzes I often end up with air: lots of thinking, less action, maybe too easily swayed sometimes. So I was surprised. It's because of the food thing mostly, it turns out: I bake lots and anyone who wanders by as things come out of the oven will be summarily ordered to eat. At this point in the conversation the term "earth mother" came into play -- pause, blink. Who, me? Not that it's something I take offense to or anything, just that it's not something I'd ever associated with myself. Huh.
People like to classify things; people like to classify people. (Gross overgeneralization? Maybe, but not by much.) It's an interesting sort of phenomenon of mental laziness; it's part of where all sorts of stereotypes come from and I'd imagine it's also part of the perpetual popularity of horoscopes. And it's an interesting sort of vehicle for playing the compare/contrast game with what people think of themselves versus what other people think of them.
And the other day I was informed that I am evidently an earth person (in terms of a loose sort of set of elements, earth fire air water and various combinations thereof; someone in this particular hallway conversation was a volcano, someone else was a glacier, someone had just plain water, I think someone else was a thunderstorm). Which is interesting because insofar as I've given thought to such things it's the last one I'd assign myself. I had water nicknames when I was a little kid (for instance, a cousin and I were "the beautiful dolphins") and if we're playing the horoscope game, I'm Pisces, mutable water (occasionally much too emotional for my own good); on the other hand the Chinese zodiac puts me at fire tiger (mmm, fire); I'm on the cusp of Aquarius, an air sign, and on the silly but fun online quizzes I often end up with air: lots of thinking, less action, maybe too easily swayed sometimes. So I was surprised. It's because of the food thing mostly, it turns out: I bake lots and anyone who wanders by as things come out of the oven will be summarily ordered to eat. At this point in the conversation the term "earth mother" came into play -- pause, blink. Who, me? Not that it's something I take offense to or anything, just that it's not something I'd ever associated with myself. Huh.