Giving people their Propps

After a friend said "your blog sounds like it was written by a teenage boy", I thought I'd talk about something a bit more ladylike: passing scathing judgement on others for fun.

People are infinitely varied, each with their own little quirks and their own unique essence. However, judging people individually - or not judging them at all - takes compassion, patience, self-knowledge, careful thought and other things that require far too much effort. I find it saves time if you assess people using a shorthand of types.

Here are some of them:

The Ratboy - This creature lives for the rat race. It doesn't have to be a boy, but it usually is. His eyes are often too close together, he has a lot of nervous energy and he never ever has a conversation without an ulterior motive. He has no redeeming features, unless you're stranded on a desert island and need someone to decide who gets eaten. He will enjoy this task a lot.

Catnip girl - This person is brilliant, exciting, guaranteed to set your pulse racing...but try and spend too much time with them and they drive you insane. Everything for them has to be the best of the best, the most thrilling of the thrilling. Again, doesn't have to be a girl, but usually is. Invite them to a party and they will probably turn up around 1am, with ten friends that they just met. But they will always dance, and that's a good thing.

The holy fool - The best kind of person, I think. They're often a little socially strange and don't quite fit in to the modern world. They're the opposite number of the rat boy. They're acutely alive and aware of others, which leads to quite a bit of suffering. It can also lead to a rather wicked sense of humour, that you wouldn't expect from someone so nice. They don't miss a trick (although they're often too kind to say anything).

More types later, have to go now...