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// “I’m a dog person, not a cat person,” and other such bizarreness. Why are people seemingly so drawn to identifying themselves as anything at all? This is a

// “I’m a dog person, not a cat person,” and other such bizarreness. Why are people seemingly so drawn to identifying themselves as anything at all? This is a powerful concept. When I studied yogic philosophy, the teacher pointed out how our language biases us towards identification. "I am hungry" in English reads like a statement of identity, whereas "j'ai faim" in French for example means "I HAVE a hunger". The hunger exists but it doesn't define my identity. This identification is a lie. If you stop drinking coffee and start drinking tea, you are still 100% you, plus you have evolved (whatever information caused you to switch your preference must be new to you) This gets into self limitation very quickly. "I AM bad at public speaking" means you don't try. "I don't HAVE public speaking skills" leaves room for choice to improve. There are a few things that are core values to who you really are. Those are important. Your choice of beverage isn't.

jasode 5y ago
>"I am hungry" in English reads like a statement of identity, whereas "j'ai faim" in French for example means "I HAVE a hunger". The hunger exists but it doesn't define my identity. >This identification is a lie. If you stop drinking coffee and start drinking tea, you are still 100% you, Your analysis of "I am hungry" is incorrect. In this case, the "am" is acting as a linking word and not about identity. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copula_(linguistics) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copula_(linguistics) Or put another way, "I am hungry" can be thought of as a shortened version of "I am [currently having feelings of] hunger". If the more verbose sentence is not about identity but sensation, the shortened version is expressing the same idea.
- xyzelement 5y ago
  Interesting tidbit. I guess I didn't argue linguistics with the teacher because I appreciated the larger philosophical point this was trying to teach. As an aside (not not saying you were doing this btw) whenever there's an analogy, some percentage of people will try to argue the analogy directly rather than try to understand the concept it's attempting to communicate.
- Izkata 5y ago
  This understanding is also closer to Spanish's "ser" and "estar" - both get translated as "am"/"is", but "ser" is for identity and "estar" is for state.
  - rrrrrrrrrrrryan 5y ago
    I absolutely love that Spanish uses different words to describe a temporary state vs a permanent state. "I am sad" absolutely should use a different word than "I am from California," and English gets it wrong by combining the two.
dmurray 5y ago
You may be interested in E-Prime, "a version of the English language that excludes all forms of the verb to be". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Prime https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Prime
- SyzygistSix 5y ago
  I have found E-prime really helpful to me as a tool to ingrain the habit of thinking of things and people in terms of what they do, rather than what they are or how we label them.
ceilingcorner 5y ago
This tidbit on language sounds deep and insightful, but it really isn't. French people and culture have just as many issues with identity and identity politics. If not more so. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_groups_in_the_French_Revolution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_groups_in_th...

jasode 5y ago

>"I am hungry" in English reads like a statement of identity, whereas "j'ai faim" in French for example means "I HAVE a hunger". The hunger exists but it doesn't define my identity. >This identification is a lie. If you stop drinking coffee and start drinking tea, you are still 100% you, Your analysis of "I am hungry" is incorrect. In this case, the "am" is acting as a linking word and not about identity. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copula_(linguistics) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copula_(linguistics) Or put another way, "I am hungry" can be thought of as a shortened version of "I am [currently having feelings of] hunger". If the more verbose sentence is not about identity but sensation, the shortened version is expressing the same idea.

xyzelement 5y ago
Interesting tidbit. I guess I didn't argue linguistics with the teacher because I appreciated the larger philosophical point this was trying to teach. As an aside (not not saying you were doing this btw) whenever there's an analogy, some percentage of people will try to argue the analogy directly rather than try to understand the concept it's attempting to communicate.
Izkata 5y ago
This understanding is also closer to Spanish's "ser" and "estar" - both get translated as "am"/"is", but "ser" is for identity and "estar" is for state.
- rrrrrrrrrrrryan 5y ago
  I absolutely love that Spanish uses different words to describe a temporary state vs a permanent state. "I am sad" absolutely should use a different word than "I am from California," and English gets it wrong by combining the two.

dmurray 5y ago

You may be interested in E-Prime, "a version of the English language that excludes all forms of the verb to be". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Prime https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Prime

SyzygistSix 5y ago
I have found E-prime really helpful to me as a tool to ingrain the habit of thinking of things and people in terms of what they do, rather than what they are or how we label them.

ceilingcorner 5y ago

This tidbit on language sounds deep and insightful, but it really isn't. French people and culture have just as many issues with identity and identity politics. If not more so. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_groups_in_the_French_Revolution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_groups_in_th...