You might have heard of “fomo”: the fear of missing out, related to feelings of anxiety that somewhere out there people are having a fantastic time … and we’re not. I spent much of my teens muttering imprecations at my parents because they wouldn’t let me go to so and so’s party. Never have living room doors been slammed so hard or stairs up to bed been stomped on so petulantly as in our house in the late seventies when it seemed the world was having itself a ball in my absence.
We all mellow over the years of course. Last week we were supposed to be joining our gang at the pub for the usual Friday night frolic. But it was cold and miserable out and the walk to our local (seven minutes door to door) was a serious disincentive. Instead it was a case of turning the heater up a notch, ordering up a curry and basking in the pleasure that is “jomo”, the joy of missing out. You can read all about it here. It’s part of our new series, The joy
of *. Find other ways to bring more joy to your life here.
When Pink Floyd released the artwork for the 50th anniversary edition of their masterpiece, Dark Side of the Moon, the trademark rainbow attracted some unintentionally hilarious abuse on social media from homophobes who thought the band was being “woke”. One “fan” who vowed never to listen to their music again, was presumably unaware that this representation of light passing through a prism was the main focus of the 1972 album’s original artwork. You can read all about the design here.
I had a rather curious work conversation the other day while involved in the editing of a piece about the new reality TV show Milf Manor, about how the first word of the title should be represented in text. “It’s a ‘thing’,” the news editor ruled. “So it’s just lowercase ‘milf’.” [It’s in the dictionary – News Ed.] So, to explain this “thing”, I’m going to ask you to think of the word as an acronym while also considering the phenomenon often observed in
teenaged boys around their friends’ attractive mothers (only in this case involving rather fewer clothes and a lot more baby oil). Here’s where the word came from
originally.
This week we also took a look at the new weight loss drug that’s got a lot of people worked up, we considered the nature of imagination (did you know 1% of unlucky people can’t visualise things in their mind at all?) and, after an
American man woke up after an operation with an Irish accent, we delved into what’s known as “foreign accent syndrome”, which is really fascinating.
From our colleagues in The Conversation’s global network, we have this piece about the Nigeria’s new president elect, and news of a new way that climate change threatens cold-blooded animals. We also got a philosopher to explain why
Americans find it so hard to agree about almost everything.
As ever, can I urge you to try to find time for our podcast, The Conversation Weekly. This week three AI experts discuss how ChatGPT is about to change our world.
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