Are you eccentric?

[HidinginPlainSight]

So many respondents are indicating that the word eccentric, implies wealth. Not in my country, which is Canada. Where it means behaviour that differs from the ordinary. It must have something to do with the countries you live in, and it's perceptions.

I'm Canadian and I've always gotten the impression the notion is linked to economy.

I've seen rich people called eccentric when they shop lift as where others are just called thieves. There was a notable case of this in Toronto some years ago.

 

[Mia]

I've seen rich people called eccentric when they shop lift as where others are just called thieves. There was a notable case of this in Toronto some years ago.

I've not seen that or read that for years. Think it depends on who is reporting or writing an article. Toronto does have a kind of elitist old 'upper canada' feel at times depending on what the wealthy are up to. They are usually pretty private when it comes to the media. Do recall fifteen years ago or so, a politician who walked off wearing a jacket from a high end clothing store, think he was referred to as a kelptomanic.

 

[HidinginPlainSight]

I've not seen that or read that for years. Think it depends on who is reporting or writing an article. Toronto does have a kind of elitist old 'upper canada' feel at times depending on what the wealthy are up to. They are usually pretty private when it comes to the media. Do recall fifteen years ago or so, a politician who walked off wearing a jacket from a high end clothing store, think he was referred to as a kelptomanic.

She was called a number of things and eccentric was one of them. One thing she didn't have to do was go to jail, even though it was not an isolated incident.

I suppose it depends on who you talk to for what someone chooses to use a label to describe. For intense my father used to tell me that it would be better to be considered eccentric than crazy because if you're crazy then you have no money. He was likely telling me to get a job.

 

[HappyHermit]

I don't think I'm perceived as eccentric. More as irritable and hard to read, slightly 'weird'... because very early on, people seem to always think I'm agreeable and perhaps a bit of a pushover given that I don't make noise for the sake of making noise or talk for no reason whatsoever. Not fighting for the limelight where it doesn't matter always gets misinterpreted that way until people overstep their boundaries or say or do things they shouldn't and I tell them what's what. For those people, apparently, it seems to come out of the blue each time. It actually doesn't. I don't speak much unless there is something that needs to be said. And when something needs to be said it isn't always what they want to hear, obviously, otherwise I often wouldn't have to speak up.

And even in situations where I do speak more, masking isn't condusive to being seen as eccentric. It's never perfect, so over time there will always be something about me that seems off in a (harmless) way that people I know better have said is hard to describe, but 'eccentric' hasn't come up. Stand-offish has, aloof, even arrogant, which... honestly... I'm often under the impression that everybody thinks more highly of themselves than I do of me, so that keeps baffling me somewhat.

As for whether I think I'm eccentric... probably not. Almost everyone, NT or neurodiverse, secretly seems to think they're eccentric, weird, strange, quirky and the like. But I think that comes out of the fact that we each know our every thought, action, desire, wish, interest and pursuit... We see everything about ourselves and the ways in which we, sometimes openly, often secretly, don't conform. We don't see others nearly as completely. Not even life partners or close friends, if we have them, but especially not Jane from Accounts whom we pass in the hallway maybe once in a workday on the way to the coffee maker and who always looks so prim and proper and very much the corporate type... and who just may be having the same thoughts about us. Seems to touch on the illusion of asymmetric insight.

To me, 'eccentric' doesn't connote wealth, either. But it does seem to imply a certain – perhaps grudging – esteem for nonconformity, where it is used around me. Otherwise, you're just 'weird', and I think that what more people think of me.

 

[Judge]

LOL. "Eccentric".

Frankly the cynic in me has always considered this more of an economic term than anything else. That if you are "eccentric", you must have a lot of money and status. And if not, then well...you're just nuts. Crazy. Etc..

 

[Mia]

It's never perfect, so over time there will always be something about me that seems off in a (harmless) way that people I know better have said is hard to describe, but 'eccentric' hasn't come up. Stand-offish has, aloof, even arrogant, which... honestly... I'm often under the impression that everybody thinks more highly of themselves than I do of me, so that keeps baffling me somewhat.

Have been on occasion told that I'm arrogant which somewhat surprised me. I state the relevant facts, and I'm rather clear and unencumbered with rhetoric when speaking. I don't wrap it up in a nice gentle package and deliver it usually in real life. Could be that it's somewhat unexpected coming from me.

 

[Vindicator Phoenix]

I'm eccentric. I can blend in with people well, though.

When they socialize with me, they think me normal.
Once I reveal my true side, they realize they were absolutely wrong.

Have been on occasion told that I'm arrogant which somewhat surprised me. I state the relevant facts, and I'm rather clear and unencumbered with rhetoric when speaking. I don't wrap it up in a nice gentle package and deliver it usually in real life. Could be that it's somewhat unexpected coming from me.

Interesting... I "sugar-coat" everything. I charm people into: liking me and following my advice. It always amazes me how much diversity we have, both: in the autism community and in the human race.

 

[Ken S.]

What I've heard more than anything else is "What the hell is wrong with you?" It doesn't bother me I play into it, give them an evil grin and they usually walk away dumbfounded.

 

[Moonhart44]

I feel that I'm more eclectic than eccentric. for me eccentricity implies that one has no reason or rhyme, that one is nonsensical, when really everything we do makes sense if we were to explain the myriad thoughts in our head.

 

[Au Naturel]

A lot of people would consider autistic to be inherently eccentric. It is how the "nutty professor" stereotype came to be. If you are renowned and famous you get to be eccentric. If you are not, then you are merely problematic.

 

[Sherlock77]

I feel that I'm more eclectic than eccentric. for me eccentricity implies that one has no reason or rhyme, that one is nonsensical, when really everything we do makes sense if we were to explain the myriad thoughts in our head.

An interesting clarification, I've never associated "eccentric" with money (and I'm not very rich, the exact opposite)

To clarify further, I have self-described myself as "eccentric" - perhaps "eclectic" pretty much my whole life, because I most definitely strive to just be myself

 

[Au Naturel]

Nerd alert!

Eccentricity refers to how far from a circle a conic section deviates. For a circle, it = zero. For a parabola, it = 1. For an ellipse, it is > 0 but < 1. A hyperbola has eccentricity >1, while lines have infinite eccentricity.

So, if you think of a circle as the perfect or ideal shape, how far you deviate from that ideal is your level of eccentricity.

 

[Sherlock77]

Nerd alert!

Eccentricity refers to how far from a circle a conic section deviates. For a circle, it = zero. For a parabola, it = 1. For an ellipse, it is > 0 but < 1. A hyperbola has eccentricity >1, while lines have infinite eccentricity.

So, if you think of a circle as the perfect or ideal shape, how far you deviate from that ideal is your level of eccentricity.

I'm way off the "ideal"

 

[GrownupGirl]

The stereotype about eccentric people is that they're rich and/or highly intelligent, so yeah, I wish I was eccentric.

 

[Judge]

The stereotype about eccentric people is that they're rich and/or highly intelligent, so yeah, I wish I was eccentric.

Just be sure to apply some of that eccentricity and wealth to a great personal attorney. You may need them.

Rich and eccentric tends to be a magnet for the wrong company...making such people what the insurance industry would call a "target risk".

 

[grommet]

Eccentricity is variously defined as:

Deviating from the recognized or customary characteristics of groups or individuals.

A person who has an unusual, peculiar, or odd personality, set of beliefs, or behavior pattern.

Eccentricity is unusual behavior on the part of an individual. This behavior would typically be perceived as unusual or unnecessary, without being demonstrably maladaptive. Eccentricity is contrasted with normal (conformative) behavior, the nearly universal means by which individuals in society solve given problems and pursue certain priorities in everyday life. People who consistently display benignly eccentric behavior are labeled as "eccentrics." (Note: at the end of this definition was a reference to people with autism.)

So here we have the root of perceptions about individuals who do not act like everyone else. I've know many people who displayed eccentric behaviour, and none that I know of were autistic. Elderly Great-Aunts who saved and made wreaths from their own hair, and had stuffed squirrels in their living rooms. A neighbour who used to walk across the street in a bathrobe and rubber boots in a snowstorm to buy a newspaper. A current neighbour who sits outside early in the morning in a nightgown and slippers eating cheerios with their fingers.

All I can think for the moment, is that people who do not conform to group social strictures would be considered eccentric. People who seem to do things they enjoy and want to do. Out of the ordinary behaviour seems to scare people. What do you think?

I think I must be. I do things in a routine way that seems to alarm people. I am not like anyone I see on TV or in the movies. My schedule every day is very similar. I am also fine being by myself. I do not require the company of other people. I have never been aroused by new fashions. I wear what seems to make sense for me and I keep wearing it.

I think I am typically autistic in many ways. I stopped wanting people to come into my home because they point out things that I do that feel normal and ordinary to me but surprise them and make them tell me what they think about it. I prefer to be by myself because of this.