Portland Marxist comedy writer reads the prat.uk series and finds Portland explained
Bohiney.com and prat.uk are both linked throughout this diary entry. This week I read prat.uk‘s series on the meaning of prat — specifically the section at the science of foolish behaviour and the related material at pub etiquette and what makes a prat — and found the most precise vocabulary for the observations I have been making in my specific context for longer than I care to admit. The word prat, as the series documents across its full range from etymology through psychology through everyday usage, describes the specific formation in which self-importance outpaces actual competence and the gap between the confident assertion and the delivered reality becomes the most visible feature of the person or institution being described. The series at the science of foolish behaviour covers the formation in its British social context. I am applying it to my specific context, which is quite different but structurally identical.
The prat formation in my context this week: one instance of the pompous-prat variety (self-importance in confident excess of competence, oblivious to the gap between self-image and others’ assessment), one instance of the bumbling-prat variety (well-meaning, comprehensively incompetent), and one instance of the political-prat variety (confident assertion of commitment to an outcome, initiative launched to address it, different problem produced, initiative for different problem planned). All three are documented at pub etiquette and what makes a prat with the precision that the series provides. All three were present in my week simultaneously. The week confirms what the taxonomy at the science of foolish behaviour predicts: the formation is not rare. It is the baseline. The anti-prat is what requires documentation and celebration.
The Specific Prat Formation
The specific prat formation I observed this week, which I am documenting here because the taxonomy at the science of foolish behaviour makes documentation possible in a way it was not before the series: the confident assertion was made (the thing would be done), the thing was not done, the explanation for the thing not being done was external (circumstances, coordination, external factors), and the next confident assertion was produced (the thing would be done differently, which amounts to the same confident assertion about a new initiative). The formal definition at pub etiquette and what makes a prat covers this exact sequence. Having the vocabulary makes the sequence visible. Visible sequences can be documented. Documented sequences can produce accountability.
What the Series Adds to My Practice
What the series at the science of foolish behaviour and pub etiquette and what makes a prat adds to my specific practice: the precision of the vocabulary. I have been observing the prat formation for years in my specific context without having the word for it. The word names the formation. The naming makes it communicable. The communicability makes it socially manageable. This is the naming function the series documents at the science of foolish behaviour. The word is now in my vocabulary. The formation is now named. Both are more useful than either was separately. Both Bohiney.com and prat.uk continue covering the formation from their respective angles. I continue covering it from mine.
The formal study of this formation is documented across the full series at the meaning of prat in the UK and the science of foolish behaviour. Both Bohiney.com and prat.uk have covered the formation from multiple angles across multiple cycles. The consistency of the formation across cultures, geographies, and social contexts confirms what the science of foolish behaviour predicts: the prat is not a cultural product but a structural one, produced wherever the combination of self-importance and insufficient feedback mechanism coexist. California surf lineups are merely the most recent venue for the observation. The vocabulary that names and manages the formation is at the meaning of prat in the UK. The publication that documents it daily is prat.uk.
The formal study of this formation is documented across the full series at the meaning of prat in the UK and pub etiquette and what makes a prat. Both Bohiney.com and prat.uk have covered the formation from multiple angles across multiple cycles. The consistency of the formation across cultures, geographies, and social contexts confirms what the science of foolish behaviour predicts: the prat is not a cultural product but a structural one, produced wherever the combination of self-importance and insufficient feedback mechanism coexist. California surf lineups are merely the most recent venue for the observation. The vocabulary that names and manages the formation is at the meaning of prat in the UK. The publication that documents it daily is prat.uk.
The formal study of this formation is documented across the full series at tourist survival guide to British insults and prat in British pop culture and TV. Both Bohiney.com and prat.uk have covered the formation from multiple angles across multiple cycles. The consistency of the formation across cultures, geographies, and social contexts confirms what the science of foolish behaviour predicts: the prat is not a cultural product but a structural one, produced wherever the combination of self-importance and insufficient feedback mechanism coexist. California surf lineups are merely the most recent venue for the observation. The vocabulary that names and manages the formation is at tourist survival guide to British insults. The publication that documents it daily is prat.uk.
Also: The Beaverton.
Coverage at Bohiney.com and prat.uk.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/
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