Eccentricity

[Mole]

Thank you Victor, for a very good post.

Dear Wildcat, I swell at your praise and cringe at your criticism.

 

[Nocapszy]

No one has any ideas on the psychology of eccentricity or weirdness?
I'm glad Victor and Wildcat showed up. They've got thread-befitting writing styles.

 

[Nocapszy]

Like I wont bring a gun to work, but I might bring you a couple of extra pet cats instead or make you paperclip chains to hang from your doorway or distribute representative nebula to all my coworkers in three buildings.

I'd prefer you used staples for the chain.
It will take longer, but will be sturdier.

 

[Halla74]

I don't know if my outlook on life qualifies as eccentric, but I do whatever the hell I want and my tastes are all over the place, and damn it I can burn through money like there is no tomorrow.

I'm a married 35 year old caucasian male bodybuilder with shoulder length bleach blond hair working as a database analyst for a government agency and attending graduate school.

My wardrobe is eclectic. All my business clothes are tailored, I will only wear Adidas to the gym, and my casual clothes consist of anything from Levi's, Polo, Sean John, Tony Llama, a vintage biker jacket, a cashmere overcoat for the winter, and let's not forget a ridiculous collection of T-shirts.

I eat the best of foods, only from the perimeter of the supermarket (fresh meats, fruits, veggies, breads, and (organic) dairy products), am a budding red wine fanatic, can mix cocktails better than any bartender I know.

I love art. I have a range of stuff on my walls at this point ranging from a hand painted watercolor from my 88 year old friend Anne, a print of an orchid that my MIL's father painted in an Italian frame, a 3 panel abstract canvas on frame painting from China, and 4 juge giclee prints on 2" box frames with gallery wrapped edges bought from my friend Spencer whose music I also love. Now I need a statue for the spot above my fireplace that used to house our TV, as the old set died and now we have a huge plasma in the family room.

My house is over landscaped. Limestone boulder retaining walls form beds in the front, Sabal palm trees, two huge King Sago plams, one Pindo Palm, a Japanese magnolia, a huge oak in back, Shi-Shi Gashira bushes, a nice Althea in the front, Formosan Azaleas on one side, and Alphonse Karr Bamboo on the other, and cool little stuff all over to tie it all together.

So that's my deal. Am I eccentric or just extremely ecclectic? Whatever, it's how I am, I don't really think about it, I've always been this way.

 

[Xander]

Eccentricity has nothing to do with being mad or being rich. It's literally being off centre, away from the norm.

Eccentricity could most honestly be compared to independent thinker as a descriptor as they are both approaching things without regard to convention... it's just one is more associated with approaching it incorrectly.

 

[substitute]

I put my theory on some of this in a post quite a while ago. It's here if you're interested. It was rated highly by the illustrious Night, and really what better recommendation could there be?

 

[Halla74]

I put my theory on some of this in a post quite a while ago. It's here if you're interested. It was rated highly by the illustrious Night, and really what better recommendation could there be?

I read your post, it rocked. My favorite from it:

"The solution is to stop trying to be what you're not, and then you can discover what you are and be it well. And don't worry about whether it's unique or not."

Cheers my friend.

-Alex

 

[substitute]

I read your post, it rocked. My favorite from it:

"The solution is to stop trying to be what you're not, and then you can discover what you are and be it well. And don't worry about whether it's unique or not."

Cheers my friend.

-Alex

Aw shucks!

Thanks

 

[Mole]

Eccentricity has nothing to do with being mad or being rich. It's literally being off centre, away from the norm.

Yes indeed, Xander.

And yes, the norm is under the centre of the Bell Curve.

Most, if not all, human qualities fall under the Bell Curve.

The Bell curve is shaped like a bell with almost everyone falling in the middle and very few falling at either end.

For instance, Intelligence Quotient falls under the Bell Curve. Most are clusters around the average IQ of 100, while very few are at one end of 160 and very few are at the other end of 40.

So the eccentrics are found at either ends of the Bell Curve, but not in middle.

The eccentrics are not found clustered around the norm. The eccentrics are not found clustered around the average. So eccentrics are not normal and not average.

Most people want to be normal. And how lucky they are clustering together under the Bell Curve as the world's made rosy and the world's made cosy by togetherness.

And at either end of the Bell Curve are the lonely eccentrics.

So no one attains eccentricity. No one has eccentricity thrust upon them. All are born eccentric.

 

[cascadeco]

Eccentricity has nothing to do with being mad or being rich. It's literally being off centre, away from the norm.

Eccentricity could most honestly be compared to independent thinker as a descriptor as they are both approaching things without regard to convention... it's just one is more associated with approaching it incorrectly.

Yeah, I'd agree.

'Eccentric' when used as a label to describe others is typically a result of the other persons' external behaviors and manifestations -- things that are readily observed and perceived. In mbti terms, probably those who don't have high Fe, as those with high Fe, or at the very least those who place value on or prefer to just blend in in a physical way wouldn't be labeled eccentric.

I don't think I'd ever be labeled eccentric by others because I hate sticking out in a readily observable way. But based on my thoughts and beliefs ...I definitely don't fit in with the majority of those in my culture. I've always been rather an odd ball (when I was a teenager I vividly recall my mom telling me, "Well, you're definitely unique"..and she didn't say it in a very reassuring way! ), but, yeah: 'Eccentric' is a label reserved for the externally obvious.

 

[nightning]

Bell curves... normal distribution...

How many bell curves are there? 1 for each trait? How many traits are there? hundred? thousands? more like millions.

Bell curves based on probabilities.
1 standard deviation from mean encompasses 68% of population
2 SD from mean => 95%
3 SD from mean => 99.7%

What counts for eccentric? 3 SD or more away from the mean?
So 0.3% of population is classified as eccentric.... for a given trait.
Now how many traits are there again? In the millions.

Let's keep it simple... 1X10^6 traits * 0.03% chance for eccentricity of a single trait.
*coughs* My math's horrible... but it sure seems like everybody's bound to be eccentric in some shape or form...

Nobody likes eccentrics? Well I guess we must be hypocrites because we sure like ourselves lots... for being "normal". (me love me puns)

 

[Mole]

...but it sure seems like everybody's bound to be eccentric in some shape or form...

If everyone is eccentric, then no one is eccentric.

 

[nightning]

Different forms of eccentricity Victor

 

[Eagle]

If everyone is eccentric, then no one is eccentric.

Different forms of eccentricity Victor

Yes different forms of eccentricity.. But, it also depends on how you define and what is the normality.

 

[Mole]

But, it also depends on how you define and what is the normality.

The Bell Curve adequately describes normality.

But in fact you are a normal person who thinks being eccentric is cool. And hey, you want to be cool.

So you replace the objectivity of the Bell Curve with your subjective desires.

 

[Eagle]

The Bell Curve adequately describes normality.

But in fact you are a normal person who thinks being eccentric is cool. And hey, you want to be cool.

So you replace the objectivity of the Bell Curve with your subjective desires.

Interesting interpritation, because that is what it is.

There are many different ways to define what is and is not normal even using a Bell Curve. Each one of them may or may not be simple, it all depends on what the core of normallicy is.
People in general are very general or broad. There are so many different possibilities, generalities, and perceptions that normallicy is not always easy to define or set even though it is a simple concept.

 

[Nocapszy]

Different forms of eccentricity Victor

Even still, since there's no palpable form of normalcy, then eccentric doesn't exist, and everyone knows you can't be something that doesn't exist.

 

[Mole]

Even still, since there's no palpable form of normalcy, then eccentric doesn't exist, and everyone knows you can't be something that doesn't exist.

Sophistry.

 

[Qre:us]

Sophistry.

Victor, you? In this thread? GET OUT!

 

[Thalassa]

Eccentricity is wandering around outside barefoot in one's nightgown after dark.

Crazy people can't help what's "wrong" with them.

Eccentric people just don't give a f**k what "respectable" people think.