Strange behaviour from a Librarian.

Okay, Col, I've come to the conclusion that your posts entertain me more than they irritate me...so I'll give you permission to continue in the same vein. : )

Lexi,

I'm a tad curious about the book as well...did you once say you picked it up in a post office?

"Caustic Quips," compiled by Sally Barnes

Dear Poirot,

There's some marvellous putdowns available on the web.
A putdown for every occasion - not all of them are acknowledged,
but it doesn't matter. They're a serviceable substitute for wit as
other posters (old timers especially) have discovered. Anyway, all you have to do is Google the putdowns. I actually prefer the web to any books for insults. It's much faster and there's more of an amusing choice especially for "playful banter."

I have been thinking about Amanda Griffin's post:

>> Because these people are insecure. They want to fit in. They want to create an impression that they're rich or pretty or popular or all of the above. <<

This is the type of behaviour in which children indulge. In an effort to be accepted by their peers they will make up stories about themselves. Usually, by adulthood most people will have learned (often the hard way - because they couldn't prove anything) that slight embellishment can be entertaining, outright lies can be damaging for themselves and others.

Such as when people start to believe their own self-aggrandisement. One of the reasons I believe in limited number of terms for politicians is that the power tends to finally corrupt. It can be unfortunate, happening to once brilliant leaders. Bob Hawke started to believe his own hype. Howard most certainly did when he had unlimited power after 3 terms resulting in policies for which he had no mandate. Same thing happened to Margaret Thatcher, who had to be forced out in the end. The USA system tries to avoid this with limitations to 2 terms.

We are all gullible, some more than others at having our ego stroked. Some need it just to be able to participate in something as innocuous as posting on a blog-site. For the observer this can be very entertaining. However, for the target of the narcissistic type people can be hurt. And we have all seen the resultant behaviour when a narcissist is 'outed'. Not pretty.

I don't expect human beings to grow out of this behaviour any time soon. Not while there are those who applaud such behaviour and the braggart continues to get away with their claims. The narcissist will always want the last word, tell themselves they have won and are unlikely to change. As for their supporters, reflected glory is better than no glory at all.

What is important is that for the majority of people, who are reasonable, they are aware of these characteristics and not be fooled.

Some further reading may be found at a number of websites, such as the following:

http://tinyurl.com/loh52l

"Bragging and false autobiography - The narcissist brags. His speech is peppered with "I", "my", "myself", "mine" and other appropriating linguistic structures. He describes himself as intelligent, or rich, or modest, or intuitive, or creative - but always excessively and extraordinarily so. One is almost tempted to say, inhumanly so. His biography sounds implausibly rich and complex. His achievements - incommensurate with his age, education, or renown. His actual state always appears evidently and demonstrably incompatible with his claims. Very often, the narcissist lies or fantasises in a manner very easy to discern. He always name-drops.

Emotion-free language - The narcissist likes to talk about himself and only about himself. He is not interested in what others have to tell him about themselves. He might pretend to be interested - but this is only with a potential Source of Supply and in order to obtain said supply. He acts bored, disdainful, even angry, if he feels an intrusion and abuse of his precious time. In general, the narcissist is a very impatient person, easily bored, with strong attention deficits - unless and until he is the topic of discussion. One can discuss all aspects of the intimate life of a narcissist, providing the discourse is not "emotionally tinted". If asked to relate directly to his emotions, he intellectualises, rationalises, speaks about himself in the third person and in a detached "scientific" tone or writes a short story with a fictitious character in it, suspiciously autobiographical."