Lexicon

I am the sort of person who puts names on things in order to understand them better. So this blog has a “lexicon”. Since these tend to be terms which are very fundamental to my own thoughts and World view, I will maintain the lexicon on this single page. Enjoy.

Border collie

A type of urban walker who nestles in close and “edges you out” of your chosen path across a sidewalk.

Chute (the)

In an urban environment, there are many sidewalks which are constricted due to construction or other work. A slow-walker such as myself will be lucky to walk through one of these chutes without getting pummeled a few times by the hurry-walkers.

Cloud-walking

A group of walkers, socializing, who are wandering as they walk and consume the entire sidewalk, in an urban environment.

Hurry-walking

A stressful form of walking which is faster than walking, but slower than jogging. A less stressful way to move more quickly would be to jog or run. If rush-hour commuters were to jog instead of hurry-walking, they would experience the following benefits:

• They would get there even quicker.
• They would be fit as fiddles!
• They would reduce their stress with every stride.
• They would help to break down the social barriers to doing interesting and sensible stuff in public.
• Typically, hurry-walking is mixed with a curious form of window-shopping in which the participant both stops to look and keeps walking simultaneously (while also giving blank stares to the other hurry-walkers in the vicinity). This type of hurry-walker often turns into a live grenade.

I used to think the reason for the hurry-walk was that a person had not yet come to terms with what he was currently doing. Then, I read David Allen’s Getting Things Done, and had all sorts of epiphanies and catharses. I now believe (resolutely) that the reason a hurry-walker does what he does is that he has not yet come to terms with what he is not doing. i.e., We all rush throughout our days since we just want to get on to something else. We are just plain bored with our lives, typically. Prior to the availability of so many something-else’s, we did not rush – instead we enjoyed the Peace of a quiet walk with a friend.

Reaching

Reaching is different from stretching. Generally, reaching is bad – it tends to imply:

• Moving outside of your center-of-gravity or comfort zone
• Attempting to do something you are not yet physically or mentally ready to do
• Attempting to be someplace (mentally) you are not able to actually be (which leads to jealousy and regret)

Some examples of reaching in everyday life include:

• Making promises you cannot keep or don’t intend to keep
• Stopping to look into a shop window as you pass on the sidewalk, without actually letting your feet stop walking
• Any type of hurry-walking

Singleton

This is a single point of failure. i.e., If this one goes, everything else goes out the window.

Slantwalking

Slantwalkers know where they want to go, and they go directly there. Their obtuse angles while cutting across the wide, expansive urban sidewalks tend to interrupt the paths of at least a dozen other walkers during a typical slantwalk.

Stampede

This is what happens to poor Shannon every time he crosses the street in Manhattan.

Technical heroism

The act of sacrificing oneself personally in order to accomplish a stated or presumed technical goal of the company for which one works, or in order to satisfy the stated or presumed need of a user. This act is often associated with a feeling of: I won in my battle against the machine.

Technical Heroism has led to the deployment of many defective systems, and has gradually both increased the expectations that users have of technical specialists, and further alienated users, causing them to become more fearful of technology they do not understand or apparently have any control over.

Teeter-walking

Picture a woman in high heels cross ice or a large expanse of metal grating.

Walking on the asymptote

Reminiscent of slantwalking and border-collies, one who walks on the asymptote will walk infinitely close to you, without actually bumping into you.

Whiskers

I’ve got more of these than normal – hence my preoccupation with personal space.