IdleRich

IdleRich
Do you use the word 'normie' in real life? @linebaugh
I think it's ok cos it's - I believe - a new coinage. It's not like LOL which I understand to be short for for Laugh Out Loud* and which is used on the internet to convey that the person saying it finds something so amusing that they are laughing, but sadly others can't hear them as they are in separate basements in totally separate houses, so the others need to be informed that it is happening. There is no need to say LOL in real life cos the person you are talking to will notice that you are laughing out loud, unless they are blind and deaf, in which case your saying "LOL" will not help them one whit. Also if you are laughing out loud you probably will be too busy laughing to say "LOL" which means that people who say it in real life tend to say it when it's not true or as some kind of post-modern replacement for genuine laughter. I myself tend to prefer actual laughter and believe that the saying of "LOL" out loud, a crime I designate as LOLOL is a nigh on unforgivable sin.Probably cos I'm old.

But as far as I know, "normie" is not a direct replacement for another word and so, if one needs to refer to that concept, presumably they have to use that word - and should not be required to reach for something with a screen so they write it down, I think that they can just say it.


*not Lots of Love as someone mistakenly believed in that famous amusing story wherein they intended to send their love to the family of the deceased at a funeral. And on that note, can someone clear up that clasped hands emoji for me; is it the hands of two people meeting exuberantly in triumphant high-five... or do both hands belong to the same person who has clasped them sombrely in prayer? I would like to know the definitive answer on this one cos depending on the meaning its usage would change completely.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
interesting case study is @Leo , probably our biggest normie,

When combined with

Normal == "normal" job, lifestyle, tastes, interests. There's a lot that could be said about what constitutes "normal" and how that intersects with race, heteronormativity, neurodivergence, etc, but normal is basically a shorthand for something like mainstream

Normie == the above but in addition largely ignorant of things outside normality. Normal plus ignorance.

Doesn't seem that flattering... I reckon you must be using the word differently cos I doubt either of you intend to label @Leo as ignorant.
 

version

Well-known member
It was definitely a reaction not so much to actual hippies as to the mainstreaming of elements of hippie culture - i.e. by the late 70s everyone had long hair and was doing drugs, including the kind of dudes whose older brothers would've been beating up longhairs 10 years earlier.

There's a Pasolini essay called The Hippies' Speech where he talks about this, the co-option of the hair in particular.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Think Linebaugh's just branding Leo a 'normie' because of his commitment to the newspaper of record.
So what do we have?

Linebaugh called Leo a normie and then disavowed it straight away saying that it wasn't a bad thing

But before that Linebaugh had told us that IRL he knows but one normie and the only reason that he is sometimes able to just about tolerate that guy and his tedious normie presence is cos they were at school together "we likely would never be in the same room under other circumstances." - probably Linebaugh's mum knows normie mum and although Linebaugh aches to delete this guy from his fast-paced supranormie (abnormie?) lifestyle, he realises that it would lead to too much domestic strife, normie mum phoning Linebaugh mum and then she would be asking "How come you never play with Chad any more etc etc

So I kinda feel that the "nothing wrong with normies" thing is a bit like a sentence beginning "Not being funny but... " or "No offence like..."
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
doesn't seem that flattering... I reckon you must be using the word differently cos I doubt either of you intend to label @Leo as ignorant.
Yeah I didn't/wouldn't label @Leo "normie" and dispute such a labeling. This is a guy who was present at seemingly every cool guitar-related moment (and plenty of non-guitar moments) in the early 80s DT NY scene, possibly the coolest scene in the history of cool scenes. I'm still half-convinced he's just Arto Lindsay under a pseudonym.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
But, joking aside, it does seem a somewhat pejorative term, all the definitions I can find seem to mention a lack of intellectual curiosity and that doesn't sound like Leo to me... I guess (almost) everyone likes to think that they are unique and stand out from the crowd - at least on a forum like this - most probably aspire to having ideas that lie outside the mainstream or, perhaps secretly, pride themselves on the fact that their taste in music (or film or literature) has been arrived at via a careful process of personal curation and so they can confidently assert that it is deeper, wider and more interesting than that of others.

And really, nine times out of ten, all that ends up meaning is that you're a normie with a big record collection. What I'm getting at is most people are not as alternative/rebellious/cutting edge as they would like to see themselves... but given that proviso, ie assuming that of those on this forum, we are all probably a little bit closer to that boring old mainstream than we think, but really, I'm intrigued (almost offended on his behalf in fact), why single out Leo as being the one of which that is most true?

Genuine question at this point @linebaugh , do you think that @Leo is less intellectually curious than others on this forum? Or do you mean something different? To be fair probably I should look at the whole thing you said

interesting case study is @Leo , probably our biggest normie, yet lived the life in his youth that many young alts cosplay as no

Which I read to mean that you think that maybe he once was not a normie but now is? Explain this to me, I'm not picking a fight, I am just confused. Perhaps I have escaped the normie label under false pretences... in fact one of my friends here said something to me the other day like... well, I can't remember precisely what it was but now I wonder if he may have been inadvertently implying that I was a normie... hmmm.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Yeah I didn't/wouldn't label @Leo "normie" and dispute such a labeling. This is a guy who was present at seemingly every cool guitar-related moment (and plenty of non-guitar moments) in the early 80s DT NY scene, possibly the coolest scene in the history of cool scenes. I'm still half-convinced he's just Arto Lindsay under a pseudonym.

This is kinda what I was thinking... you gave a definition of normie and LB separately applied thet label to Leo - but I suspect that neither of you would actually want to describe Leo in that way and so I assume that you may have different ideas of what normie means.

It's purely pejorative

But, joking aside, it does seem a somewhat pejorative term,

Aha, cross-post

No one would self-label normie just as no one would self-label hipster

Thing is I do do that sometimes, that's because I don't consider it an entirely negative term and, also, cos I feel that it might be true so I should acknowledge it. There is nothing worse than being in some super trendy pop up barj/restaurant and hearing some ridiculously dressed guy in a mixtures of designer and second hand clothes with a stupid hat and collectable trainers talking to his mates on some kind of vintage phone and saying to them "Oh I hate that place it's full of hipsters".

I'm not saying that I'm that guy... but I dj with vinyl, I go on dissensus and talk about books, I have a weird seventies watch, I should at least acknowledge the fact that I'm nearing hipster territory.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
That's no shade @linebaugh or anybody tbc, it's just that normie basically == you're not cool

Just as hipster basically == you're inauthentically cool

I certainty agree that it's weird to interact with relatively normal - as in non-subcultural, I guess - people. I had to actively put effort into learning how do it in my early 20s after several years basically off the grid of mainstream society (living in squats, riding freight trains around, living very minimally off gray market economy stuff, etc). It was a real trip at first.
 

linebaugh

Well-known member
When combined with



Doesn't seem that flattering... I reckon you must be using the word differently cos I doubt either of you intend to label @Leo as ignorant.
in actuality no one here is probably a normie that was just a light jab @Leo for being a seemingly happy old man who reads the new york times.

but again I dont think theres anything wrong with being a normie and you could reword what paidrag said to replace 'ignorance' with 'content.' Normies are satisfied with the immediate options presented to them by mainstream culture via media, fashion and lifestyle choices. Theres still plenty of room for intellectual curiosity too if thats what you are thinking is the inherent negative- my buddy in question learns foreign languages for fun to give an example.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
You can always find some kind of common ground, tho obv the bigger the cultural (and linguistic) gap the harder it'll be. A shared experience like Rich and his workmates def helps but isn't necessary. One of the things I missed most during the pandemic was striking up conversations with random strangers at lunch or on the street or whatever. For example I used to talk to this fire and brimstone Calvinist guy sometimes. Who I guess wasn't really normal in the sense meant here but yunno very different from me.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
Idk @linebaugh I'd have to disagree that normie isn't pejorative, even if you replace ignorant with content

It's basically the same as calling someone basic

Or not quite the same but pretty close
 

linebaugh

Well-known member
to paint a further picture @IdleRich , at the bachelor party we listened to 3 types of music: festival edm, Drake, and lofi beats to relax/study too. Most there were married and employed in some STEM profession. Most lived on the outskirts of midsized american cities and many owned homes. Over the course of the weekend, most at one point wore a shirt representing their alma mater.


And it makes me feel very gross typing that all out as it paints some picture of me looking at them like a eugenicist so Ill reiterate that they were all good guys who I had a great time with and mostly what I'm describing is the trappings of a person, but as paidrag already said it can be a trip to brush up against that culture and its interesting to think about
 

linebaugh

Well-known member
Idk @linebaugh I'd have to disagree that normie isn't pejorative, even if you replace ignorant with content

It's basically the same as calling someone basic

Or not quite the same but pretty close
youre right that its always pejorative but Im just trying to let rich know that I dont think less of people as people who have bad taste in things
 
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