# Normal is the new abnormal -- forbidden adjectives **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 9, 2021, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-is-the-new-abnormal-forbidden-adjectives/937554 "2021-03-09T22:19:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2021, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-is-the-new-abnormal-forbidden-adjectives/937554/121 "2021-03-11T13:34:25Z")
Okay listen. 1. I spent a lot of damn years as a child trying to figure out this hella confusing world. 2. I finally got things figured out. 3. But things keep changing around me. It’s like the world WANTS me to stay confused! 4. I don’t like change. 5. I especially don’t like change that suggests the world I grew up in wasn’t perfect as-is. 6. So I get mad and sneery about changes in the world. Does that about cover it? ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2021, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-is-the-new-abnormal-forbidden-adjectives/937554/122 "2021-03-11T13:40:46Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Yes, “somebody moved my cheese”. I’ve heard of training courses based on that, and they appeared to be designed to persuade the peons to be happy about whatever arbitrary changes management inflicted on them, and quit complaining about having no agency over their lives. Accurate? > [@puzzlegal](#): > > But I’d guess most people don’t look at the ingredient list to pick their shampoo. Yup. I don’t know what the differences are, so I usually buy whichever’s on sale. If the results are bad, I don’t get that one again. And I recognise the different versions by colour, so I really hope they don’t decide to change that too. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2021, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-is-the-new-abnormal-forbidden-adjectives/937554/123 "2021-03-11T13:58:29Z")
> [@DemonTree](#): > > I’ve heard of training courses based on that, and they appeared to be designed to persuade the peons to be happy about whatever arbitrary changes management inflicted on them, and quit complaining about having no agency over their lives. Accurate? Irrelevant. Some change is good. Some change is bad. Some change is neutral. Shitty managers try to shame people who object to significant bad changes by pretending that they’d object to _any_ change. That’s awful behavior. They act like any change is necessarily good. But that’s not what’s going on here. Marketers are changing their marketing messages _all the fucking time_. They’re changing logos and descriptions of cereal and rolling out new ad campaigns and introducing new bottle shapes and all sorts of shit. 99% of them don’t get objected to. But somehow, when they declare that they’re not privileging white people hair as normal hair, suddenly it’s all about cognitive load? Give me a break. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2021, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-is-the-new-abnormal-forbidden-adjectives/937554/124 "2021-03-11T14:12:28Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > But somehow, when they declare that they’re not privileging white people hair as normal hair, suddenly it’s all about cognitive load? Nicely summed up. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2021, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-is-the-new-abnormal-forbidden-adjectives/937554/125 "2021-03-11T14:35:29Z")
> [@DemonTree](#): > > having no agency over their lives One company is changing one word on their shampoo bottles. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2021, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-is-the-new-abnormal-forbidden-adjectives/937554/126 "2021-03-11T15:18:57Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > But somehow, when they declare that they’re not privileging white people hair as normal hair, suddenly it’s all about cognitive load? > [@Telemark](#): > > Nicely summed up. Almost like holding up a “All/White/Blue Lives Matter” sign. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2021, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-is-the-new-abnormal-forbidden-adjectives/937554/127 "2021-03-11T15:29:07Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > “Normal” just seems like bad marketing, regardless of any social consciousness issues. If my hair has qualities X, Y, and Z, and I’m looking for a shampoo that treats those qualities, am I going to buy the one that specifically says, “for x, y, and z hair,” or do I buy the one that says “normal?” Obviously, the former, because how do I know what that particular shampoo maker considers “normal?” Sorry, I’m the opposite. I don’t know what “qualities” my hair (or skin, or whatever) has. I’m not a hair expert or a shampoo connosseur. Show me too many options and types and special features, and I’ll just be baffled. I just want a normal shampoo, for normal guys! That said, I think I understand the reason for Unilever’s change, and I don’t have a problem with it. ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2021, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-is-the-new-abnormal-forbidden-adjectives/937554/128 "2021-03-11T17:48:59Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > But somehow, when they declare that they’re not privileging white people hair as normal hair, suddenly it’s all about cognitive load? They weren’t doing that. The ‘normal’ is the middle of a range from dry to oily, and white people are included in all those categories. Are they saying only some white people are normal? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2021, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-is-the-new-abnormal-forbidden-adjectives/937554/129 "2021-03-11T17:50:04Z")
> [@DemonTree](#): > > The ‘normal’ is the middle of a range from dry to oily, The word you are looking for is average, not normal. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2021, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-is-the-new-abnormal-forbidden-adjectives/937554/130 "2021-03-11T17:52:20Z")
> [@DemonTree](#): > > They weren’t doing that. The ‘normal’ is the middle of a range from dry to oily, and white people are included in all those categories. Are they saying only some white people are normal? This is a pedantic nitpick to distract from the larger dynamic, and I’m not especially interested in entertaining it. ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2021, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-is-the-new-abnormal-forbidden-adjectives/937554/131 "2021-03-11T17:56:44Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > The word you are looking for is average, not normal. I didn’t pick it. > [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > This is a pedantic nitpick to distract from the larger dynamic, and I’m not especially interested in entertaining it. LOL. It makes no sense and you know it. ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2021, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-is-the-new-abnormal-forbidden-adjectives/937554/132 "2021-03-11T18:00:55Z")
You know what? I really don’t care what they call shampoo, and I don’t have ‘normal’ hair anyway. I was hoping I could persuade a few posters to see someone else’s point of view, have a little empathy for those who are unhappy about the increasing amount of change modern society throws at us, both necessary and unnecessary. But I can see that’s not going to happen, so never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2021, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-is-the-new-abnormal-forbidden-adjectives/937554/133 "2021-03-11T18:10:11Z")
> [@DemonTree](#): > > have a little empathy for those who are unhappy about the increasing amount of change modern society throws at us Again… shampoo label. People unhappy about shampoo labels not having the word “normal” on them do not deserve empathy. Nobody is harmed or minimized or made less of a person because the “normal to oily hair” shampoo now says “average to oily hair”. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2021, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-is-the-new-abnormal-forbidden-adjectives/937554/134 "2021-03-11T18:11:08Z")
> [@DemonTree](#): > > I was hoping I could persuade a few posters to see someone else’s point of view, have a little empathy for those who are unhappy about the increasing amount of change modern society throws at us, Where’s YOUR empathy for the people who are implicitly being told, “you are not normal”? ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2021, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-is-the-new-abnormal-forbidden-adjectives/937554/135 "2021-03-11T19:03:48Z")
> [@DemonTree](#): > > have a little empathy for those who are unhappy about the increasing amount of change modern society throws at us I have lots of empathy for people who are tired of having to deal with being expected to learn how to do what used to be routine things in entirely different ways, and then to learn them all over again every time the computer program changes. Empathy for people who are upset about changing shampoo labels, which have been changing since before I was born, which was 1951? That, I’m kind of thin on. Empathy for people who are upset about those changes specifically when they make the shampoo aisle more comfortable for other people, but don’t seem concerned when it’s just that the shampoo company feels like changing the name of the specific version three times a year so they can have “fall” on the label in the autumn and spring blossoms on the label in the spring? That, I’m extremely thin on. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2021, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-is-the-new-abnormal-forbidden-adjectives/937554/136 "2021-03-11T19:04:33Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Show me too many options and types and special features, and I’ll just be baffled. I just want a normal shampoo, for normal guys! yeah, same. Which is why my current bottle of shampoo doesn’t make any promises except “shampoo”. I’m surprised this is in the news now, as it was a year or three ago when I went to buy shampoo and couldn’t find any that said “normal”. So I bought a couple that didn’t make any special claims, and threw out the one that smelled bad. They both worked fine on my hair. This was less traumatic than when Pepperidge farm took the delicious tropical oils out of their cookies. ☹ > [@DemonTree](#): > > have a little empathy for those who are unhappy about the increasing amount of change modern society throws at us Oh, I have plenty of empathy, being one of the people having trouble keeping up with change. But this is an extremely small change, and marketing folks change the labels all the time. And this one even has some obvious upside. Small, but it offsets the small downside, and then some, imo. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2021, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-is-the-new-abnormal-forbidden-adjectives/937554/137 "2021-03-11T19:19:18Z")
[![](https://media.snopes.com/2014/07/equal.jpg) ](https://media.snopes.com/2014/07/equal.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2021, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-is-the-new-abnormal-forbidden-adjectives/937554/138 "2021-03-11T19:31:33Z")
> [@DemonTree](#): > > have a little empathy for those who are unhappy about the increasing amount of change modern society throws at us, both necessary and unnecessary. But I can see that’s not going to happen, so never mind. That’s pretty damned petulant. You’re nitpicking to make it seem like this isn’t about white people sad they’re not considered normal, when the complaints are clearly about that. If you want me to feel pity for white people who hate not being at the center of the marketing universe, you’re right, I’m fresh out of pity to bring to that party. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2021, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-is-the-new-abnormal-forbidden-adjectives/937554/139 "2021-03-11T20:08:35Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > this isn’t about white people sad they’re not considered normal, Eh. As a person directly affected – I am a white person who used to buy “normal” shampoo – I can still buy default shampoo. I don’t need to buy “shampoo for \_\_\_\_\_”, the one labeled “shampoo” works great. I haven’t lost that privilege. I did spend 15 minutes, and however much a bottle of shampoo costs, to find a new shampoo when the label changed, though. As i said above, not NEARLY as bad as when i bought a box of what I expected to be delicious cookies and they tasted like blecchh canola oil, not like coconut and palm oil. The cookies cost more, and I didn’t realize at the store that I ought to have picked up some other kind of cookie. But the cost to me is not that I’ve lost my privileged position, but just that I needed to read some labels to find a new shampoo. Anyone who thinks they are losing privilege because of this has no clue what it feels like to lack privilege. ---
**Author:** ![TheCuse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thecuse/32/2854_2.png) [@TheCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheCuse)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2021, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-is-the-new-abnormal-forbidden-adjectives/937554/140 "2021-03-11T20:12:22Z")
^^I had to do the same thing (i.e., take a few minutes to figure out which shampoo to get when my usual brand dropped the “normal.” I had walked in to stock up and I saw “for oily hair” and “dry hair,” but I couldn’t find the “normal” one. So I grabbed one that didn’t specify for oily hair or dry hair as I figured that was the kind I needed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-is-the-new-abnormal-forbidden-adjectives/937554.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/normal-is-the-new-abnormal-forbidden-adjectives/937554.md?page=8)