God save the "gormless!" :)
genkaku
Northampton, Mass. U.S.A. Veteran
Posted this on my blog, but it's serious enough that I wanted to post it elsewhere as well:
Hangin' around wondering if some connection might be made between a woman who is pregnant-out-to-here and is sometimes said to be "expecting" and the arguably youthful person who "died unexpectedly" the other day. Both have expected for whatever reasons. Both, in most cases, get fooled. So much for "expectations" great and small.
For whatever reasons as well, that thought thread led me to the word "gormless," a word I admire for no particular reason ... except, perhaps, if I were angry at someone and wanted to hurl an epithet, "gormless" has a great, insulting ring to it. A veritable pillar of a sound ... sort of like, "shit!"
But I wanted to check my footing and so offered "gormless" to Google for clarification and clarity purposes: Was it really a good epithet? Ahhhh, yes. It was. How nice to reestablish a friendly link!
But, wait....
There, spliced into Google's offerings was this comment: "According to merriam-webster.com, "gormless" does indeed mean "lacking in gorm", which was originally the middle-English word "gaum" or "gome", meaning "understanding, or attention". I would have to say that "gorm" as its own word has fallen out of the modern lexicon, though, and is not at all likely to be understood. Dec 30, 2010."(emphasis added)
What?! "Not at all likely to be understood?" Is everyone out there as gormless as I? This simply will not do and I implore all self-respecting readers to use this word at least ten times a day in the upcoming month. Preserve the "gormless!!!!!!!!!"
You think I'm kidding?
Gormless twit!
Comments
I think therefore, that it's only fair we equally revive the attention to, and use of - Gorm.
(Just to clarify that I did read, understand and was, paying attention.)
Gorm sounds like a god of the dwarves or something in a fantasy roleplaying universe. (to me)
I wonder what we expect.
Enlightenment? Understanding? A straight path from existence to cessation perhaps ...
I expect change. A high price for any being.
The only previous encounter I had with the word ‘gormless’ implied a lacking of wits more than a lacking of attention, but I’m happy to be corrected on its usage. By all means try to keep it in common usage as it seems to be a word not otherwise covered
"Gormless" is an insult in my experience, and I don't understand why anyone would want to revive the word.
An odd topic for a Buddhist discussion forum?
Thanks, @SpinyNorman; Did you want to flag the comment or make a formal point, at all?
My comment was really in light of your recent thread about lack of Buddhist focus on NB.
As a more general observation, I am never sure what to flag here because there is no TOS ( Terms of Service ) and therefore no objective criteria for what is and isn't OK. It's all horribly subjective, and seems to depend what mood people are in.
A formal TOS might not be wanted here, but surely a few guiding principles would be helpful?
As you know, that consideration is beyond my remit, but I'll ask @Linc to look at this and give you his input.
You don't want to make the place too stale. Next thing we'll have no personal support threads.
Being there for each other is part of what separates this forum from the others and without general banter it will feel less close.
This place could get pretty bare and lame if it's made to feel too clinical.
Got gorm?
Well, my intention within that thread, @SpinyNorman was certainly to rein in an abundance of threads which would place Buddhism as a secondary subject; but this is General Banter. My point was that subjects of a general nature were being put in all the sub-forums, and threads were being led off-topic by comments also becoming somewhat random and unrestricted.
I suppose if 'fault' is the correct word, then I am at 'fault' for having not considered the way things were going with foresight and understanding.
As @David points out, it's a question of finding balance. The sona Sutta springs to mind!
This has to be a place where people are not concerned about opening their hearts and speaking about things they wish others to be a part of and share. That includes matters of a general nature.
So while I do take your point, as I said, I will leave it to @Linc to put forward his angle on matters.
Of course, it's about balance. Recently it seems that the pendulum has to swung too far in the direction of general chat and self-indulgent blogging.
I have contributed to a variety of different forums over the years, and NB certainly isn't unique in providing personal support, personal connections and banter. I have never come across a "perfect" forum either, they all have they idiosyncrasies, including this one.
I do agree but feel the balance flows naturally or has done so since I've been here anyways.
NB probably isn't the only forum offering support but I've seen many call it their sangha and from a personal standpoint, it's the only forum I go to. I've checked others out but I don't have too much time to be all over the web looking for a decent discussion with people of a fairly like mind.
Pretty much, I check out FB and NB and that's about that.
While I am certainly not beyond reproof, my own feeling is that if Buddhism is beyond a chuckle -- i.e. if it excludes 'anything' or 'anything else' -- it is probably on the high road to solemnity and juice-less rot.
But I've been wrong before and plan to do so again.
Even though moderators help direct things a bit in the forums they moderate, it's really up to the community to set their standards for what they want to see. I think a too tight ToS ends up not shifting with the populace of the community very well. I try to treat forums I'm on a bit like my FB newsfeed. I participate in what I enjoy and like to see more of. And what I don't like, I ignore. If we always post in the topics we aren't even interested in, it generates more discussion and the topic always rises to the top. We might not be able to change or control what anyone else is interested in or what they respond to, but we can control what we choose to read and respond to.
In any case, I agree with Jeffrey, "Gorm" implies a sort of Fantasy troll or something to me, akin to the wild hair Trolls but a bit uglier
I personally like the term, though I admit I likely won't remember to use it anywhere but here. Lacking attention or understanding seems to be an understatement in many ways!
Buddhist forums aren't democracies. You will see.
Are there any gorms around here do you think? I reckon Fede keeps them well away with her ban-hammer. Certainly trolls do seem to be lacking in understanding