Jason Eppink (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} jasoneppink) wrote,@ 2009-04-10 14:17:00 |
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FOMO, and other great new terms
Here are a few terms that have only recently entered my vocabulary but describe concepts with which I was immediately familiar. Hurray for precision in language!
FOMO:
An acronym for "fear of missing out", FOMO describes my existential crises when I walk into libraries and my intense panic when browsing through the dozens of events lists to which I subscribe. FOMO is pre-regret. It's ante-disappointment. It's never quite being content. It's going to a party and not having any fun because all you can think about are all the parties you could be at that are probably so much more awesome.
Individuals prone to FOMO often spend time in FOMO-management, in which they calmly and rationally remind themselves of their finite nature.
One can have varying levels of FOMO. A little FOMO is healthy and motivating. Unchecked FOMO can be crippling. For me, FOMO reaches deeply into my time-management, creativity, and relationships. I'm told FOMO wanes with age. I really, really hope so.
(c/o Lizzie)
completism:
If you search for "completism" on the web, most returns relate to collecting music, but it can also refer to, for example, an effort to read all writings by a particular author, to watch all films on a particular "Top 100..." list, or to take a dump in all fifty of the United States.
Completism appears to most normal people a tad obsessive. The idea of walking over all the bridges that touch Manhattan is interesting, normal people think, but why exert effort actually going through with the whole the idea? What is gained? To a completist, this line of reasoning is frustrating, even absurd. Why do people climb mountains? Because they exist.
Completism is also about finishing what one has started, about concluding perfectly. It's about closure and structure and clearly defined boundaries of "done" and "not done". I posit that individuals with backgrounds in engineering, science, and math are more prone to completism than writers, artists, and designers.
full-ass or full-assed:
To do something "half-ass" or "half-assed" is to rush through it, or to do it poorly and without attention to detail. Doing something full-assed, on the other hand, is to exert every effort, however impractical, to complete the task perfectly.
"Full-assed" is clearly similar to "completism", but while the latter describes the concept or practice, the former serves better to describe specific instances.
(c/o Matt)
hangry:
This is a portmanteau of "hunger" and "angry". You know how you can get irritable when you haven't eaten for a while? That's "hanger". You are "hangry".
(c/o Lizzie)
Here are a few terms that have only recently entered my vocabulary but describe concepts with which I was immediately familiar. Hurray for precision in language!
FOMO:
An acronym for "fear of missing out", FOMO describes my existential crises when I walk into libraries and my intense panic when browsing through the dozens of events lists to which I subscribe. FOMO is pre-regret. It's ante-disappointment. It's never quite being content. It's going to a party and not having any fun because all you can think about are all the parties you could be at that are probably so much more awesome.
Individuals prone to FOMO often spend time in FOMO-management, in which they calmly and rationally remind themselves of their finite nature.
One can have varying levels of FOMO. A little FOMO is healthy and motivating. Unchecked FOMO can be crippling. For me, FOMO reaches deeply into my time-management, creativity, and relationships. I'm told FOMO wanes with age. I really, really hope so.
(c/o Lizzie)
completism:
If you search for "completism" on the web, most returns relate to collecting music, but it can also refer to, for example, an effort to read all writings by a particular author, to watch all films on a particular "Top 100..." list, or to take a dump in all fifty of the United States.
Completism appears to most normal people a tad obsessive. The idea of walking over all the bridges that touch Manhattan is interesting, normal people think, but why exert effort actually going through with the whole the idea? What is gained? To a completist, this line of reasoning is frustrating, even absurd. Why do people climb mountains? Because they exist.
Completism is also about finishing what one has started, about concluding perfectly. It's about closure and structure and clearly defined boundaries of "done" and "not done". I posit that individuals with backgrounds in engineering, science, and math are more prone to completism than writers, artists, and designers.
full-ass or full-assed:
To do something "half-ass" or "half-assed" is to rush through it, or to do it poorly and without attention to detail. Doing something full-assed, on the other hand, is to exert every effort, however impractical, to complete the task perfectly.
"Full-assed" is clearly similar to "completism", but while the latter describes the concept or practice, the former serves better to describe specific instances.
(c/o Matt)
hangry:
This is a portmanteau of "hunger" and "angry". You know how you can get irritable when you haven't eaten for a while? That's "hanger". You are "hangry".
(c/o Lizzie)
