[FRIAM] Pondering the slang Adulting

[Nick Thompson]

Glen, 

I have always wondered about "trolling".  Is it the monster under the bridge or the fisherman.  Or both?

N

Nicholas S. Thompson
Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology
Clark University
http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/


-----Original Message-----
From: Friam [mailto:friam-bounces at redfish.com] On Behalf Of u?l? ?
Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2018 4:52 PM
To: FriAM <friam at redfish.com>
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Pondering the slang Adulting

It sounds to me like yet another effect of the information age, the decoupling of one's essential self from their environment/behavior.  E.g. in gaming, a "tryhard" is someone who takes the game too seriously.  It's just a game.  It's OK if you lose.  Or another e.g. trolling.  When interacting with someone online who seems too sensitive or takes themselves too seriously, a decoupled person might *pretend* to be a Nazi or somesuch just to fsck with the person.

So too with adulting, where you do adult things but retain your *essence*, which is not so adult as to take adulting seriously ... to commit to it as a part of your identity.  It reminds me of "imposter syndrome" and "fake it till you make it", both common phrases when I was 30 or so.

On 11/13/18 3:26 PM, Gillian Densmore wrote:
> I got to talking with dad today and I hadn't though about how the 
> slang adulting might have come about. My guess was in the sense of 'going off to be a' if you have a playful personality Thoughts?


--
☣ uǝlƃ

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