I know a man who simply cannot stop bullsh*tting. He pretends not only to be familiar with, but to have THE definitive opinion, in every conceivable subject matter- sports, literature, art, automotives, medicine, military strategy, history, politics, etc.
Everyone immediately recognizes that he is totally full of sht, except perhaps very small children. Yet he must think no one else knows, as he continues to do it even in front of people that have told him they think he’s full of sht.
Sometimes we will play a game where we try to have a discussion in his presence on some terribly obscure subject matter, whereupon he will reveal himself as an authority on the subject. We start talking about 14th century Czechoslovakian furniture making, and he will interrupt us to tell us the ‘straight dope’ on the subject-
“Anybody can make furniture out of oak or mahogany, but what it so impressive about the 14th century Czechoslovakians was their ability to work with birch. THAT is the sign of a true craftsman, taking a piece of birch and turning it into something useful”.
What causes a person to behave this way? Is there some sort of psychological need to appear knowledgeable in front of others, or is it just due to some sort of ‘chemical imbalance’??
You do recognize the irony of asking this question to an group of people who voluntarily associate mostly for the purpose of providing facts (and opinions dressed up as facts) on many topics, most of which they’re not expert on?
I THINK I KNOW THAT GUY!!! Well, okay, maybe not him, but I know someone who sounds almost exactly like him. The guy I know takes it a step further though, and seems to argue sometimes just for the sake of arguing EVEN IF HE’S WRONG.
If I had to guess, I’d say that people like this suffer from low self esteem, and need to feel important in some way. The guy I know who does this is fat, balding, and unemployed. He says he’s a filmmaker, but I’ve yet to see ANYTHING he’s completed. He’s always got an excuse for his lack of progress, and it’s always someone else’s fault. At first, I chalked his failure at filmmaking up to inexperience, and being new at it. Then I discovered that he’s been a “filmmaker” for 20 YEARS with not even a 5 minute short to show for it. If you ask him though, he knows everything there is to know about the art of making movies.
Sad.
I don’t think there is a ‘psychiatric’ condition other than attention-seeking and possibly a personality ‘disorder’ that begs for said attention, but it may be interesting to note the tone of the Munchausen-ist. Is he doing his Cliff Claven routine to overpower people and situations or is he doing it to try and fit in (albeit clumsily)? There is a difference. Is he aggressive with his verbal diarrhea, which would suggest attempt to compensate for a ‘psychiatric’ flaw or problem, or is he a squeeky mouse, which would suggest attempt to overcome loneliness (which some may attribute to a ‘psychiatric’ condition)?
That may not be the best of examples; mahogany and oak(but to a lesser extent) are indeed significantly easier to work with than birch, which is weaker, rather prone to splitting and is difficult to finish.
I have some friends (one in particular) that I BS just to see how outlandish I can make it before he springs to the fact that I’m lying out of my a$$… BTW, I’m not the only one that does this to him too. He gets such joy when he tells me I’m BS’ing (it gets really good when I AM telling the truth, and can prove it).
I do tell him afterwards that I didn’t have any clue about whatever I was talking about when I do BS him.
You’re talking about one of my coworkers aren’t you.
Actually, since I first had the displeasure of being introduced to this wanker, I have been ‘studying’ him and I do believe that there IS some sort of psychiatric dysfunction present. (IANAShrink btw). I reckon it might fall under an extreme form of Narcissistic Personality disorder. JMHO of course.
I disagree. While many people are coming out of the (Czeckoslovakian) woodwork with stories of their favorite bullshitters, I’m hoping an expert will arrive on the scene to say whether this is part of a particular pathological pattern of behavior.
Over the years I have notiiced that there is at least one BS’er in every workplace. They come in a couple of varieties, however. The first is the one described in the OP - the expert.
Second is the “That’s nuthin’” type. If you have one, he’s got two. If you saw big, he saw bigger, etc.
The third is more subtle. He knows what’s going on, but he can’t say too much. He’s in on the scoop, but he better not share. I guess he’s sort of like a psychic. Kind of vague about details, but implies he knows say, when the next round of layoffs are coming, and who’s going to go etc.
I really think there’s something wrong with these people. You can look them right in the eye in front of everyone and call them on the BS, but the next day, they’re back at it. And BTW, every one of them has been male. I never met a workplace female BS’er.
I’ve met a couple of people like that. I met a guy in high school that I had heard was a BS’er. When he found out I was into military hardware, he started rattling off a bunch of “facts” which I refuted as fast as he got them out. He stopped speaking to me after that.
Well, I’ve got a female one in the family. I always just assumed she’s a compulsive liar. She will make up a story about anything, and it will leave you shaking your head and wondering why.
My favorite was when we were shopping for a camping trip. One person commented something to the effect of ‘why don’t these peanuts come in a can- we can’t take a glass jar on a camping trip’, whereupon she launched into a long, pointless explanation about why peanuts aren’t available in a can. Which they are. Almost everywhere. Except at that particular store.
Because mine is a family member, I just assumed there was a frog in our gene pool.
Every schoolchild knows that the birch forests in Czechoslovakia had been completely decimated during the Great Eastern European Toilet Paper Production Boom of the early 13th century. The last of the great Czech birch furniture makers had picked up and moved to Italy by 1280 or so, where, due to an untimely glut of cheap (but tasteful) unfinished pine furniture from Scandinavia, they were forced to turn to gondola production to survive. Any 14th-century birch furniture produced outside of North America, therefore, must surely have come from one place, and one place alone; Iraq.
A-ha! It’s all starting to make sense now, isn’t it?
Your friend doesn’t have a psychiatric abnormality… he just hasn’t managed to get himself elected to public office yet, and so you can’t bring yourself to accept his word as The Word.
RELAX…
Imagine him standing behind a podium with lots of microphones… the wall behind him has one or two key words decoratively scattered across it…
Oh, yeah, and Ca3799, whoever told you that bit about “can’t take a glass jar on a camping trip”…? That’s another load of horseplop! I personally earned all three Boy Scout merit badges for “Camping with Glass Containers”… I got “Bottles” and “Jars” at Spring Camp, and the more difficult “Pyrex Baking Dishes” at Summer Camp.
Does a book that I own count as a cite? It’s a book on diseases (mental and physical) published in 1993. In the section on schizophrenic disorders and delusional disorders is this discussion on grandiose delusions:
It’s a bit different than someone who just plain bullshits, but it ties into it in some ways. The person I know thinks he has the answers to all of the world’s problems, and eventually people will come to him and realize that he’s had them all along, resulting in a wonderful utopian world for all of us.
Well, since you are asking about actual psychiatric conditions I agree with Kambuckta (IANAShrink also), it could be Narcissistic Personality disorder.
However, I think what some people classify as a personality disorder can often times be a paler shade of a mood disorder.
BTW, I’m not the only one that does this to him too. He gets such joy when he tells me I’m BS’ing (it gets really good when I AM telling the truth, and can prove it).