Perseverance, Perserveration and Not-So-Great Expectations

Start with an easy one: Bizarro recreates the best part of my second bachelorhood.

I found myself back on the market at 34, which is certainly young enough for a second try, but it was also old enough to have a little perspective on things, and I didn't go up half so many blind alleys then as I did at 20.

And the blind alleys I did go up were more convoluted and entertaining than any in the past.

The joke here, of course, is that you don't go around announcing such things, but perhaps there's another way to look at it, and I suppose some may see the gag as someone who foolishly misses out by prejudging people.

This chap may, in fact, be missing the chance to meet his soul mate.

But "soul mates" are something you might possibly believe in at 20, though I didn't, at least, not in the sense of there being one true predestined match out there. 

I'm not against the concept of seeking compatibility, of course, but, if anything, there are too many fish in the sea, not just one or even two.

In any case, I don't feel pity for this pre-spurned woman, given that her expression suggests that she doesn't mind in the least being spared from going through the whole thing.

She probably wishes there were more frank, honest fellows like this in the world.

And fewer of the opposite sort ...

This began popping up on Facebook, and then Mike Lynch took the lead in getting to the bottom of things.

There's something deliciously ironic about a contest for an International Cartoon Exhibition on Women's Rights that ends up featuring a man's cartoon so blatantly stolen from a woman, though it puts me in the position of the minority watching TV reports of a horrific crime and, before the picture of the perp is flashed on the screen, thinking "Oh god please no."

So a big thank you to Mario Russo for making us all look like jackasses by blatantly, shamelessly ripping off Elena Ospina.

And here's something: When I went looking for him, I was aware that "Russo" and "Mario" are very common names and likely to appear together far too often to be sure of finding the right one.

But then I found a Mario Russo who won second prize in a Greek cartooning contest last year with this piece ...

  ... which sure does bear a striking resemblence to this piece by Cristina Bernazzani, doesn't it?

And then Jamie Smith points out another of Mario's contest entries, which rather suggests that ol' Mario isn't doing this by accident.

After Lynch got in touch with the contest organizer, it got fixed. Sort of. I do hope more than this happened, but I'd think that, if he'd done something semi-adequate, he would hasten to say so. (Granted, if the piece were featured in their on-line gallery, it's gone now.)

But what do I know? I'm the sort of spoilsport who, if he were running a contest, would run at least the top entries through Google Images before I made myself look like a damn fool in front of the whole world.

Speaking of things I did shamelessly at 20 which I try to avoid now.

 

Which leads naturally to this

xkcd attacks a much-quoted, much-mis-sourced nostrum, which comes neither from Einstein nor Twain nor Franklin but, apparently, either from a Narcotics Anonymous flyer or a Rita Mae Brown novel but which apparently infuriates psychologists who consider "insanity" to be a lot more specific a label than the rest of us do, since I found several angry rants on the topic from that corner.

I'll quibble with Randall Munroe to the extent that sometimes we're merely describing something and not expecting our observation to make much of a change.

For instance, I might say, "Anyone running a cartoon contest is a fool if he doesn't run at least the top entries through Google Images," but that doesn't mean I expect it to happen, much less for foolishness to disappear from the face of the earth.

And I might repeatedly say that, but I promise you I would not be expecting different results, so I'm covered on that, too.

One thing that comes out of the shrinks who ponder the quote, however, is that they draw a distinction between "perseverence" and "perserveration," which is well-explained in this, one of the less ranty articles on the topic and well-worth reading.

In shrink-talk, there is a difference between persevering -- keeping up an effort -- and perserverating, which is compulsively repeating a phrase or action.

If nothing else, someone who perseveres nearly always modifies what they are doing, recognizing previous failure and hoping to change the outcome by changing the approach.

Someone who perserverates is fixated, and I'm not clear where this differentiates from, for instance, touching the same lamp post on your route to work each day or, in the case of a baseball player, wearing the same underwear throughout a winning streak.

And perhaps it doesn't.

What I am clear on is that some people have a pretty loose sense of how language works and others are handcuffed by it, and I don't know that anyone who uses that phrase means it in the rigid sense of doing exactly/precisely the same thing over and over again.

Though I'll grant that the people who most need to hear it are those least likely to get it, which makes Munroe's point, assuming you believe it came from a Narcotics Anonymous pamphlet and not simply a mystery novel.

 

Juxtaposition of Marital Bliss

(The Brilliant Mind of Edison Lee)

(Anne and God)

 

There is little certainty in this world, but I am now certain that I will never, ever celebrate the coming of spring by playing croquet in John and Anne Hambrock's backyard.

 

Now here's your moment of zen

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Paul Berge]

If at first you don't succeed, do the same thing over and over expecting different results.

[George Corbett]

Following a concert sometime in the mid 60's I destroyed a perfectly good washtub before I understood that Fritz Richmond need more than a rope, a broomstick, and good intentions to be a bass player. Thanks for the memories.

[Hildigunnur]

We have a story about a guy getting a flat tire out in the country. He had a spare but no jack. He then went walking towards a nearby farm to ask the farmer for a jack. On the way he started fantasizing about the farmer being a total a..hole and when he came up to the farm he had convinced himself that the farmer would be rude and not lend him a jack or a hand. He then knocked on the door and when the farmer came out the guy yelled: You can keep your bloody jack to yourself! and walked off.