# Don't get it? Slap a label on it. (mild) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 27, 2005, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-it-slap-a-label-on-it-mild/286949 "2005-01-27T17:37:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-it-slap-a-label-on-it-mild/286949/21 "2005-01-27T21:31:48Z")
> [@Time Like Tears](#): > > It boils down to this; be ye gay, geeky, butch, trans-something, boy, girl, gothy, punky, liberal, conservative, fundamental, secular, orthodox, Christian, Jedi, whatever… > > …aren’t we all just humans, deserving of, at the very least, the respect required to find out who we are before deciding what we are? Humans, however, have some deep psychological need to categorize the world around them. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as such categorizations allow for information about a subject to be quantized, so to speak. If I say, “I am a mammal”, people have a pretty good idea what that entails. Similarly, if I say, “I am a Republican”, people would like to have a pretty good idea what _that_ entails. The idea being that individuals to which the label is applied are believed to share some common traits - this is just as true within biological taxonomy as outside of it. Such labelling is essentially shorthand for communicating ideas about groups. Problems begin when the label is applied inappropriately, or when an individual is pigeon-holed based on incomplete information, or when certain traits are erroneously assumed to be representative of a given group. And all too often, those errors in classification occur with the intent of insulting someone. So, while humans have a need (or, at least, a strong desire) to conceptualize via classifications, all too many suck at forming accurate and useful classifications. That, and the fact that many of the classifications formed are more rightly part of a continuum than discrete entities, and it’s easy to see why such labelling often goes awry. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-it-slap-a-label-on-it-mild/286949/22 "2005-01-27T21:49:51Z")
> [@](#): > > Sarah is the only label I want to be known by. Then you should change your user name. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-it-slap-a-label-on-it-mild/286949/23 "2005-01-27T21:52:05Z")
There are three kinds of people in this world: Those who can count, and those who can’t. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-it-slap-a-label-on-it-mild/286949/24 "2005-01-27T22:18:54Z")
There are 10 kinds of people in the world: those who understand binary and those who don’t. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-it-slap-a-label-on-it-mild/286949/25 "2005-01-27T22:31:02Z")
I think the real problem is when people can’t escape their labels. One of the old longtime posters whose name I can’t remember (Esprix?) but authored numerous “Ask the Gay Guy” threads never managed to escape the gay label, and people constantly brought it up in threads that had nothing to do with homosexuality. It gets really freaking tiring to be unable to express an opinion and have it listened to on topics unrelated to your label. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-it-slap-a-label-on-it-mild/286949/26 "2005-01-27T22:48:01Z")
> [@Darwin's Finch](#): > > Problems begin when the label is applied inappropriately, or when an individual is pigeon-holed based on incomplete information, or when certain traits are erroneously assumed to be representative of a given group. And all too often, those errors in classification occur with the intent of insulting someone. I’ve personally found that when this occurs, the people who do it are of the mindset “Well, you aren’t one of us, you’re one of THEM, so you must be less than us.” This is often followed up by questioning the person’s morality, and implying that they do repellant things that no “normal” person would. It can be present with bullying behavior. It also may occur while the person is making themselves look foolish, just to be spiteful to another. Some people don’t understand that the world isn’t “black and white” but really varying shades of grey. They think “Either the person is for me, or against me. That person is Good/Evil.” The various orginazations created by humans tend to encourage this mindset, so the problem is only worsened. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-it-slap-a-label-on-it-mild/286949/27 "2005-01-27T22:58:25Z")
The ability to apply labels and categories is part of intelligence; rather than having to analyse each example of _scorpion_ to check if this one is dangerous, I can assign _scorpions_ to the category _dangerous - avoid_, leaving me free to mentally process other tasks. Of course it isn’t very often as simple or convenient as that when it comes to labelling and categorising _people_, but the process is innate; it’s what we do by default. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-it-slap-a-label-on-it-mild/286949/28 "2005-01-27T23:36:50Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > I want to be Jedi. Okay, let’s start with your communication techniques: > [@featherlou (in Jedi)](#): > > Are labels bad, if limit yourself or others with them you do not? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-it-slap-a-label-on-it-mild/286949/29 "2005-01-27T23:44:41Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Okay, let’s start with your communication techniques: So you want to teach her Yodaling? Swiss supremacist!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-it-slap-a-label-on-it-mild/286949/30 "2005-01-28T00:13:50Z")
**Sarah** , I hear you! I am not my age, political affiliation, occupation, nation of origin, gender, marital status, or hobbies. I’m a wobblly fog with sparks and intense murmurings of then and now – of love remembered, that is not lost – and a narrow ridge that I’m crossing still with great anticipation. The best days are sandelwood scented. For some, this will make no sense at all. But I think it will to you, **Sarah**. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-it-slap-a-label-on-it-mild/286949/31 "2005-01-28T00:21:02Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > So you want to teach her Yodaling? Swiss supremacist!! 😃 Leave it to **Poly** to want to lend an 'alpine 'and. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-it-slap-a-label-on-it-mild/286949/32 "2005-01-28T00:21:42Z")
This was actually, sorta, the subject of the first thread I ever posted to the Dope. In my view, (and Korzybski’s), the issue isn’t one of labeling, but taking the map for the territory. Labels, to a certain degree, are part and parcel of our thought process. The trick, of course, is in realizing that person A can be modeled as label B, but that a one to one correlation never exists. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-it-slap-a-label-on-it-mild/286949/33 "2005-01-28T03:04:24Z")
> [@SolGrundy](#): > > Sheesh. Fucking Canadians. We sure are. 😃 (“Yodaling”? Grooooooan.) ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-it-slap-a-label-on-it-mild/286949/34 "2005-01-28T04:49:02Z")
> [@SolGrundy](#): > > Sheesh. Fucking Canadians. Yes, please. ---
**Author:** ![Esprix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprix/32/7899_2.png) [@Esprix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprix)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-it-slap-a-label-on-it-mild/286949/35 "2005-01-28T06:11:17Z")
> [@The Devil's Grandmother](#): > > I think the real problem is when people can’t escape their labels. One of the old longtime posters whose name I can’t remember (Esprix?) but authored numerous “Ask the Gay Guy” threads never managed to escape the gay label, and people constantly brought it up in threads that had nothing to do with homosexuality. It gets really freaking tiring to be unable to express an opinion and have it listened to on topics unrelated to your label. Heh. 🙂 Esprix ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-it-slap-a-label-on-it-mild/286949/36 "2005-01-28T09:41:57Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > The ability to apply labels and categories is part of intelligence; rather than having to analyse each example of _scorpion_ to check if this one is dangerous, I can assign _scorpions_ to the category _dangerous - avoid_, leaving me free to mentally process other tasks. > > Of course it isn’t very often as simple or convenient as that when it comes to labelling and categorising _people_, but the process is innate; it’s what we do by default. This is exactly what I’ve been thinking, but you put it much more simply and succinctly than what was roiling around in my overanalytical mind. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-it-slap-a-label-on-it-mild/286949/37 "2005-01-28T10:22:02Z")
> [@Time Like Tears](#): > > What happened to humans that make us crave labels for everything? Every trait, every action, every lifestyle has to have a damn label. What, exactly, is wrong with accepting another person for who and what they are, instead of what some label generalizes them into? As a human being I must categorize what I see around me in order to comprehend the world. To answer your question, I really don’t see why the two are mutually exclusive. I can recognize that a person is a homosexual (label) and still accept them for who and what they are. Likewise I can recognize that someone is a communist (label) and accept them for being the fool they are. > [@](#): > > To me, labeling is roughly equivalent to prejudice. It causes no end of hurt feelings and missed opportunities. We’re all guilty of it, and at some point, it has or will affect us all negatively. That seems rather silly to me. Am I hurt by being categorized as an atheist, a southerner, white, or a mechanic? Well, yeah, sometimes people can say pretty hurtful things about all of those categories. However I have to say that the labels fit and I’m not offended by them. > [@](#): > > Labels create assumptions. We all know what they say about those… It’s just silly to assume that as a political centrist, that I won’t have anything in common with a Republican It isn’t silly at all. If you’re a centrist there are probably some subjects you and a Republican might share a common opinion on. Unless you’re one of those centrist who only agrees with the left in which case you’re not really a centrist. > [@](#): > > It’s silly to assume that as a gay man, my friend Rocky is a Cher fan and is out to corrupt your sons. It’s ridiculous to assume that as a jock, my friend Jon is a meathead with nothing on his mind but sex and football. It’s ludicrous to assume that as a goth, my cousin Liza is depressed and suicidal and likes to mutilate small animals. Ok, so we can all agree that labels can be used a shortcut for bigoted thought? That doesn’t make them inherently wrong. > [@](#): > > Labels lend names to stereotypes and judgement. It’s not description, it’s pigeonholing. The first thing out of some folks’ mouths when describing someone tends to be a label. “Oh, you should meet my friend Kasey, she’s a lesbian, but I think you would get along.” “You and my geek friend should hook up sometime.” I hear this crap every day. I hear it very rarely. In fact I can’t remember the last time someone said something like that to me. > [@](#): > > Oy, I am rambling. I do have a suggestion. Why not switch to adjectives? I’ll even give examples… > > “She’s very intelligent.” > “He’s gorgeous!” > “He has a great sense of humor.” > “She’s very well-read.” > “He’s talented.” So you’ve categorized the intelligent and not intelligent, the gorgeous and not gorgeous, those with and without a sense of humor, those who are well read and not well read, and those with and without talent. You haven’t avoided the problem. > [@](#): > > …aren’t we all just humans, deserving of, at the very least, the respect required to find out _who_ we are before deciding _what_ we are? > > **Sarah** is the only label I want to be known by. Sure, but as I said earlier the two are not mutually exclusive. Marc ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-it-slap-a-label-on-it-mild/286949/38 "2005-01-28T10:28:11Z")
Oops, I forgot to edit that part about the centrist and Republican thing. Forgive me…I suppose you could label me as a lazy writer. Marc ---
**Author:** ![Time\_Like\_Tears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df705f/32.png) [@Time\_Like\_Tears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Time_Like_Tears)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-it-slap-a-label-on-it-mild/286949/39 "2005-01-28T10:36:56Z")
Did you read any of my subsequent posts, in which I continued to explore what was bugging me and came up with the conclusion that it wasn’t the labels so much as the people who use them to base all inferences about a person on? OPs can evolve. This one did. Pay attention. I chose the wrong word. What I am really pitting is the behaivior of individuals based on labels. Modify your reading of the OP to include that, and I think my point should be clear. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-it-slap-a-label-on-it-mild/286949/40 "2005-01-28T10:41:30Z")
One more thought. I think it more likely that “types” get labeled more often because people DO “get it” than because they don’t. Again, along the lines of what **mangetout** and **mcgibson** both said, although in different ways. I’m sorry you’ve been hurt by people rejecting you for some of your traits. They may not have necessarily done so because “tattoos = freak” or “tomboy=dyke” though to use your example. Rejection for type isn’t necessarily a personal rejection, but, especially in business decisions, one of policy and type of business. “Front office appeal” for one thing. A thread some time ago on the “Self Proclaimed Nice Guy” and the “gold digger” are two examples of “bad” labels where a type has been identified, not by a person’s appearance, but by their own actions, and the label is effective in avoiding running into that type and in warning one’s fellow daters. Tom: wow she’s HOT Bob: yeah, but she’s a gold digger Tom: Eeeks, nevermind Effective and fair use of a label, even though it’s a negative one. Time and energy is saved on Tom’s part, and likley heartache as well. Or, on second thought, back to what **mangetout** said about recognizing scorpions. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-it-slap-a-label-on-it-mild/286949.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dont-get-it-slap-a-label-on-it-mild/286949.md?page=3)