Ordinary People

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are you one? if not, why not? what is it that separates you? if so, what is it that makes you one? if you are not an ordinary person, what do you think of ordinary people? how do you think they view you?

is there such a thing as an 'ordinary person'? or is it a chimera?

― gareth (gareth), Monday, 18 August 2003 12:58 (twenty-two years ago)

I would say I am ordinary, in the sense that I get up & go to work everyday to pay for a mediocre life style (it what i do socially wise), rent a house, drive a car & aim to buy a house in the distant future. Oh & get married & have babies. If that's ordinary, which i suspect it is, i dont mind it. I have a very happy life with it.

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Ask doomie.

― Mark C (Mark C), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:04 (twenty-two years ago)

You bald cunt, Mark C!

I'm not ordinary or extraordinary, I'm just Nick.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:05 (twenty-two years ago)

also, Pinkpanther is the reason why this thread can never be used to insult people. Hope your life is as happy as can be, Pinkie!

(but give up the Daily Mail, for the love of god. That is WARPED and DEVIANT)

― Mark C (Mark C), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:05 (twenty-two years ago)

'Ordinary-ness' is a continuum, surely? People are ordinary in varying degrees... it's hardly a dichotomy between having 2.4 children and a dog and talking to your plants/murdering small children/having the power to nuke a small country.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:06 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't know, I suppose my interests and chosen career are a little out of the ordinary and I dress a little out of the ordinary also. Not too much though as I age, I feel the outer image obscures the inner a bit.

I don't think anyone is ordinary, though there is a stereotype for males and a different one for females and people conform to that in varying degrees. I like that it exists and I conform in some ways myself aswell.

You are what you want to be, ultimately, ordinary people are those who don't aspire to be different from what they percieve as ordinary people.

I think ordinary people might view me as slightly quirky, but also maybe assume I am more different from them or want to be more different from them than I am/do.

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:06 (twenty-two years ago)

;-) to Mark C!

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Also, I'm not sure that being 'ordinary' necessarily equates to being a conformist drone... I'm sure there are perfectly unremarkable looking blokes who are into all sorts of weird/sick shit.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:09 (twenty-two years ago)

do you know up til now I'd never given this a moment's thought? I suppose everyone perceives themselves as ordinary as that is their frame of reference. Anyone consdidering themselves extraordinary would struggle to avoid coming across as a bit of a dick. As to how others view me, that's up to them, it doesn't alter the fundamental me-ness of me.

― Matt (Matt), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:09 (twenty-two years ago)

waitaminute, Pink reads the Fail? You know that could be classed as defamation of character (unless, of course, it's true. That's not true right, Pink?).

― Alex K (Alex K), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Actually, that should be buy a house in the near future! damnit ppl find a house to buy!! prior to licing with james, i used to have the lifestyle of going clubbing, taking drugs, going to the pub, festivals, holidays, w/e's away etc etc (not to say i still dont apart form the drugs, not no more But then i think all of those things are 'ordinary' aswell. They are ordinary as you & your surrounding social circle are all doing the same thing.
Yeah I do love my ordinary life, it rocks actually, probably far more than a so called extraordinary life!
(And no I dont read the Daily Mail-it was a joke for Mark on another thread! jeez!)

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:13 (twenty-two years ago)

I wasn't suggesting that Matt, if you were replying to me. I just used the word conform without any negative connotations.

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Sorry ronan, I wasn't referring to you (should have noted it was a crosspot)

― Matt (Matt), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:14 (twenty-two years ago)

post

― Matt (Matt), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:15 (twenty-two years ago)

licing=living obv!

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Are you extraordinary if you can't type/spell?

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:15 (twenty-two years ago)

I sort of agree pinkpanther, but at the same time society does not view alot of those things as ordinary, drugs and things being illegal etc still forces that.

The ordinary things are only ordinary cos they're probably the best, love, marriage, kids etc.

(no worries matt

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:16 (twenty-two years ago)

I thought licing was a term I was unfamiliar with

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Actually, to an extent I agree with Ronan... a person can be perfectly 'normal' by UK standards but as soon as you then drop that person into, say, Iran, they become the exact opposite.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:17 (twenty-two years ago)

that was before the fling with the tramp right?

― Alex K (Alex K), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:17 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm ordinary people cuz I'm not ordinary and so is everyone else.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:20 (twenty-two years ago)

So then ordinary needs to be defined. Ordinary according to a particular group. I am pretty ordinary by anyone's standards I guess. So what would make me extraordinary then?

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:21 (twenty-two years ago)

also...

sometimes I'm right, I'd like to be wrong, my own beliefs are in my song, the butcher, the baker, the drummer and then you can't figure out what bag I'm in

― I am everyday (ordinary) people (nickalicious), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Ronan sums it all up with stunning simplicity - "The ordinary things are only ordinary cos they're probably the best, love, marriage, kids etc." Props.

― Mark C (Mark C), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Err, can I just say that my oh so razor sharp remark was supposed to go after Ronan's post. And now, if it's even posible, it reads even more stoopid. Bah.

― Alex K (Alex K), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:23 (twenty-two years ago)

"what would make me extraordinary then" Ask James girl.

― Alex K (Alex K), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:25 (twenty-two years ago)

I am resisting the temptation to make a terrible pun, I laughed despite you having to explain Alex.

Also thanks Mark C.

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:25 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't think anyone considers themselves odd or weird, do they? Though it's easier to tell if you feel other people might think so occasionally. Is this an arrogance thing in a way? Ordinary=Unpretentious?

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:27 (twenty-two years ago)

ie could ordinary be an acceptance of who/what you are? with all the positive/negative implications thereof?

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:28 (twenty-two years ago)

I reckon he's pretty happy with the way I am actually. I think he is extraordinary & I would hope the feeling is mutual. But then to everyone else, very ordinary!

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Most of my workmates think I'm mental. That's different though.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Like, what I mean is when people are percieved as ordinary it usually is because they have achieved self fulfillment in alot of areas of their life, ie got married or had kids or succeeded in their chosen employment, whereas not feeling ordinary can be the driving force in your life, what makes you work on your personality, habits, problems etc and motivates you to achieve more.

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:32 (twenty-two years ago)

Can I refer you to this thread and all the trouble it caused?

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:38 (twenty-two years ago)

I think only momus should ans this q.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Matt surely referring to that is only daring this thread to become like it you rapscallion you

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Are 'ordinary', 'normal', 'conventional' and 'unremarkable' all basically synonymous here?

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:52 (twenty-two years ago)

i dont know, i think ordinary is a nebuluos term, i think it can be used to desribe something you wish to differentiate yourself from, but then it becomes a straw man? an abstract you cannot quantify? i am curious about the need for differentiation, or at least, self-differentiation

― gareth (gareth), Monday, 18 August 2003 14:41 (twenty-two years ago)

I must be extraoridinary in that I really couldnt give a shit about being the same as everyone else!

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Monday, 18 August 2003 14:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Pinkpanther is an oxymoron!

― Mark C (Mark C), Monday, 18 August 2003 14:48 (twenty-two years ago)

It's extraordinary how little work I did today.

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 18 August 2003 14:48 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't think I've ever met anyone I'd call ordinary. People who appear 'conventional', yes. So there is a distinction there I think.

Either that, or *everyone* I've met is ordinary. I can't decide.

― Archel (Archel), Monday, 18 August 2003 14:49 (twenty-two years ago)

One thing is that when someone says "extraordinary" it tends to mean "much better/more interesting than average", which isn't the same as not-ordinary. For instance, I am not-ordinary at sports because I am utterly malcoordinated, I think if there were to be some kind of universal sporting tournament I would finish in the bottom 5%, maybe even 1%, for my age.

I think I'm fairly ordinary though, but with a few eccentricities. I have a baby rabbit running around on the carpet while I'm typing this - to my parents that would have seemed odd, for instance.

― Tom (Groke), Monday, 18 August 2003 15:03 (twenty-two years ago)

actually i am of the opinion that this term, like so many others, is purely contextual.

before starting the thread i was curious about peoples need to be non-ordinary, an unexpected result of this thread has been peoples equally strong desire to be ordinary. it is as prized as its opposite. i am now equally curious about both desires. the desire to be non-ordinary seems to be born of insecurity, and involves the setting up of exclusionary boundaries and a false dichotomy between the two. the desires of those to be ordinary seem to involve re-inforcing the rules of those that exclude themselves from the category. a mutually beneficial scenario?

― gareth (gareth), Monday, 18 August 2003 15:12 (twenty-two years ago)

I have a baby rabbit running around on the carpet while I'm typing this

This is cuter than words can say. :-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 18 August 2003 15:27 (twenty-two years ago)

I think I'm about as ordinary as they come.

― luna (luna.c), Monday, 18 August 2003 16:25 (twenty-two years ago)

http://inkpot.com/film/images/godzilla.jpg

― kephm, Monday, 18 August 2003 17:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Do you want to be original (because obviously you're not) or do you want to be ordinary (because obviously you're not)? What happened to "man, measure of things" (thus being out of the judgement)? And wasn't there a thread recently about "ordinary folks"? I'll settle for boring, but that doesn't make me ordinary (because, cross your heart, everybody wants to do interesting things).

― nestmanso (nestmanso), Monday, 18 August 2003 19:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Like Archel, I don't know if I've really known any ordinary people. Most people are ordinary in some respects and far from the norm in some others.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 18 August 2003 19:59 (twenty-two years ago)

I think I am conventional and unremarkable (though a bit less so in Wanganui than in a bigger city) but I like to think that ordinary people are happier than me. But sometimes I think how can I regard myself as ordinary when I have had all the benefits of an extensive education beyond the scope of most people. I think ordinary means 'the majority'

― isadora (isadora), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm so ordinary that it's extraordinary.

― Tad (llamasfur), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 00:11 (twenty-two years ago)

i honestly don't know how to answer this question. as matt in DC said, its a continuum, but where i lie on it is hard to say, because i don't know how to rank ordinariness. and seeing as the self is always in process, how ordinary i am today is different from tomorrow and so forth.

― The Lady Ms Lurex (lucylurex), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 01:15 (twenty-two years ago)

i am not ordinary.
doesn't mean i'm better or worse, i'm just not ordinary

― Orbit (Orbit), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 04:02 (twenty-two years ago)

I really doubt anyone on ILX is ordinary. Every day my co-workers display levels of ordinaryness that would otherwise be totally inconceivable to me. 12-CD people are ordinary. "Greek" campus culture is ordinary. Those idiots on fucking dating shows like blind date, fifth wheel and shipmates are all ordinary. Ordinary is fucking insane.

― Dan I., Tuesday, 19 August 2003 04:19 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm totally ordinary

― nnnh oh oh nnnh nnnh oh (James Blount), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 04:23 (twenty-two years ago)

What Dan Wintermute said!

Gareth is right in that the term becomes a straw man, and often for people who want to be considered or consider themselves 'special'(but conversely I think anyone who says 'ooh you think you're soooo special' to anyone else instantly places themselves in the MOR demographic and should therefore not complain if called on that).

I think people are far less likely to see themselves as 'ordinary' if:

1. Their early lives contain nothing but incidents of WEIRD SHIT.
2. They have been alienated/excluded by/from the mainstream experience in some significant way.
3. They have some kind of talent which society rates in theory.

Calling someone 'ordinary' is also a coping strategy for people who have been called 'weirdo'. Have also noticed 'angry' is becoming a new derogation, eg. 'this person is a bit...angry' to indicate the person under discussion doesn't fit in.

― suzy (suzy), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 07:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Last time I watched Blind Date it was full of people who were not ordinary in the slightest.

I'm still not sure whether 'ordinary' and 'normal' mean the same thing. I don't think they do. I would much rather be considered normal than ordinary.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 07:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Pinkpanther is an oxymoron!
What I meant by what I said is that people seem to hate to be labeled as 'ordinary' but I must be the exception, as I am 'ordinary' in the lifestyle sense of the word & I really don't care.

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 07:43 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't see what the number of CDs you own has to do with anything.

It's probably necessary to distinguish between Behaviour and Psyche for these purposes, and that's quite hard to do when you don't know someone.

― Archel (Archel), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 07:51 (twenty-two years ago)

usually when people say they're "just ordinary people" theyre about to lay some shit on you to the effect that "just ordinary people" are this disadvantaged group in a world of freaks & wierdos & "liberals" & what the fuck. screw em.

― duane, Tuesday, 19 August 2003 07:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Dan I think intelligence can be ordinary too, if you're saying that the people on ILX are intelligent.

― Tom (Groke), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 07:54 (twenty-two years ago)

I would consider myself an ordinary person & I certainly don't consider myself disadvantaged.

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 07:55 (twenty-two years ago)

(x-post yo Pink)

Writing well = intelligence, usually. Therefore most of ILX = intelligent, usually.

― suzy (suzy), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 07:59 (twenty-two years ago)

I think there are enough intelligent people in the world for intelligence to be part of the sprectrum of 'ordinary-ness' though.

< /blind optimism>

― Tom (Groke), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 08:02 (twenty-two years ago)

I think just because it becomes a straw men doesn't mean it necessarily is one.

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 08:07 (twenty-two years ago)

are 'ordinary people' merely people that havent got to know yet, so they are easy to abstract as a blank slate? some peoples personalities mark them out as 'interesting' from the get-go, others it is not always so clear straight away?

is this something to do with difficulty in visualizing peoples individulaties, so it is easier to conflate them?

― gareth (gareth), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 08:12 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.homevideos.com/bestpicturesPHOTOS/ordinarypeople.jpeg

― Mary (Mary), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 08:14 (twenty-two years ago)

What about people who appear ordinary (consciously or unconsciously) but actually become very ordinary once you get to know them?

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 08:16 (twenty-two years ago)

What Duane said

― dave q, Tuesday, 19 August 2003 08:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Still think the pretentions/no pretensions thing works here.

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 08:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Most singularly annoying use of the word ordinary = when insecure/pretentious people are using it as a way of distancing themselves from the common heard.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 08:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Doesn't the common herd define ordinary?

I wasn't saying ordinary people are dumb, plenty of the co-workers that I think of as ordinary are way smart. It's just that the things that they do and the opinions and preferences they express just seem really typical to me. They are steadfastly in line with the habits of the majority in every observable way.

I also realized that there's not just one ordinary, of course. These people are ordinary american college students, not ordinary 20-or-30-something english office workers (for example).

― Dan I., Tuesday, 19 August 2003 08:48 (twenty-two years ago)

yes but they probably use even worse terminology like "the masses".

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 08:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh and I wasn't saying that I necessarily think ILXors are that intelligent either, ha ha.

― Dan I., Tuesday, 19 August 2003 08:50 (twenty-two years ago)

You could arrive at a quasi-mathematical definition of ordinary based on significance-testing behaviour within a defined sample. So for instance you could work out that voting for one of the three main (UK) parties, or not voting, was 'ordinary', and voting for the BNP or Greens or UKIP or Socialist Labour was 'not-ordinary' depending on where you cut off your sig-test.

― Tom (Groke), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 08:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes! yes, exactly.

― Dan I., Tuesday, 19 August 2003 08:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah but Dan, the question then is:

- where do you draw the line of significance?

- how many 'ordinary' things does a person need to do/think to be 'ordinary'.

I don't think ordinariness is a straw man, though. If you were a particular kind of criminal, for instance, or a spy, you might want very much to 'appear ordinary' and there would be a way of life and behaviour that you would have in your mind as a template. Maybe everybody carries their own 'ordinary' around with them.

― Tom (Groke), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 09:16 (twenty-two years ago)

I think it's way too easy to assume that a person who is 'not-ordinary' (in whichever category that entails) believes 'ordinary' or 'the herd' to be inferior to them. I think they just see a 'difference' which is difficult to overlook.

Also consider the meaning of 'common' (everyday) in the US is very different to the meaning of 'common' (which has class connotations) in the UK.

― suzy (suzy), Tuesday, 19 August 2003 09:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Tom, one draws the line of significance at whichever frame of reference interests them, broad enough to be meaningful, but narrow enough not to be incomprehensible (the musical tastes of an "ordinary" human being from anywhere in the world is hard to think of).

And you're right, everybody does carry their own ordinary around with them. it's a personal science; one categorizes actual frequencies by purely subjective criteria.

― Dan I., Tuesday, 19 August 2003 09:23 (twenty-two years ago)

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