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Re: USAGE: Words for "boredom"

From:Andy Canivet <cathode_ray00@...>
Date:Tuesday, June 18, 2002, 1:06
>From: Christophe Grandsire <christophe.grandsire@...> > > >In a way, that doesn't surprise me. In pre-industrial cultures, people tend >to >be busy from the moment they're up till the moment they go back to sleep. >Whether it is by hunting, cultivating, preparing the food, building >shelter, >making tools and/or weapons, repairing things, making love, raising the >children, sitting with all other members of the tribe to decide of what to >do >next or listen to the words of the elders, etc... that makes little time >with >nothing to do. Boredom appears only when you get moments with nothing to >do. >Boredom appears with free time, and free time only appears when comfort >becomes >enough that people can stop working without falling immediately in sleep, >and >comfort appears with some level of industrialisation. It wouldn't surprise >me >that boredom appeared at the same time as history, i.e. at the same time as >writing :))) . >
I don't know about this - there's good evidence that many foraging societies spend / spent a good deal less time each day than we do on average actually engaged in subsistence; and that they probably enjoyed some measure of comfort (i.e. daily life was not, in fact, a constant struggle for survival) - however, whether you were foraging, telling stories, or whatever, they probably still didn't have a word for boredom.... A crucial factor must be the kinds of social arrangements that exist in post-agricultural societies (alone time, etc.) - then again, I guess it depends on how you define boredom. I can recall plenty of national geographic specials depicting animals yawning and whatnot, and if I didn't know any better - I'd say a lot of them looked bored... _________________________________________________________________ Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com

Replies

Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...>
Clint Jackson Baker <litrex1@...>Work weeks WASRe: Words for "boredom"