Squirm?

[mrissa]

[Poll #1168961]

Comments

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

I think that says more about the interestingness plus unusualness of your hobbies, plus the quality of your work, rather than your age. I've had similar conversations recently, because I've finally got a mantel that is suited to displaying an odalisque I made in a life sculpture class back in college.

In all humility, it's a good piece, and one I am quite proud of. When people find out I did it, though, I often hear, "You should be a sculptor." Sometimes I explain that I have an acquaintance who is a sculptor, and she seems from my perspective to lead a rather precarious lifestyle, one that I don't feel I could afford to take on with a mortgate to pay my share of. The cycles of fat and lean, living from commission to commission, the lack of insurance and benefits -- these all terrify me.

But people aren't thinking about all that when they say, "You should be a sculptor." It's really just poorly articulated code for, "you do professional-quality work," or "people would pay real money for that." It's not a business plan, it's just their estimation of how well you do something. In a way, I really wish that people would learn to speak more precisely on that particular compliment. I keep wondering how many less-skeptical people are goaded into totally impractical business ventures by such well-intended compliments. Lots and lots of restaurants start (and fail) that way, I'm sure.

[writingortyping.livejournal.com]

In a way, I really wish that people would learn to speak more precisely on that particular compliment. I keep wondering how many less-skeptical people are goaded into totally impractical business ventures by such well-intended compliments. Lots and lots of restaurants start (and fail) that way, I'm sure.

A-men.

There's also often a kind of breathless wonder that comes with these sorts of compliments which ping all of my "bs" buttons and put me on the alert for sarcasm, whether it's there or not.

[mechaieh.livejournal.com]

It's really just poorly articulated code for, "you do professional-quality work," or "people would pay real money for that."

I'm going to find this helpful -- thank you for pointing this out.

[Recognizing the ways people don't treat language with precision = lifelong struggle for me.]

[redbird]

That's an aspect I hadn't thought of when a coworker reacted to my earning a promotion by saying I ought to start my own educational publishing company. (The promotion was to a better-paid and more interesting editorial job--it wasn't, and I don't want, anything on the sales or business side of the company.)