Scots aren't lazy Real Business Scottish racing legend Sir Jackie Stewart recently accused his countrymen of being workshy, lazy and reliant on safe public-sector jobs.
America's Sin City! Houston Chronicle In a unique twist on the seven deadly sins (lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride), Forbes has ranked the top ten sin cities for each vice.
All about sloth: Too easy does it National Post (Toronto) Is ‘overly deliberate' just another way to say lazy?
May 27, 2008
As part of our ongoing tour of the deadly sins, we were going to offer a thoughtful treatise on the benefits of liabilities of sloth. But then that seemed like so much work...
Aah, sweet laziness, one of the most curious and amorphous of the supposed moral failings. Is there another sin left so much to the eye of the beholder? Your "lazy," after all, may be my "well-rested" or "energy-conserving." Your "wasting time" is my "maintaining a creative space."
Surely we've heard enough ant-and-grasshopper fables and dealt with enough shiftless relatives to know the potential pitfalls of indolence. So let's take a moment to consider the possible virtues of sloth.
For starters, it's hard-wired into our genes. As Terry Burnham and Jay Phelan relate in their excellent and eye-opening book Mean Genes, we're programmed - just like other animals - to avoid unnecessary work. Your cat doesn't sleep 20 hours a day because it's an idle slob - it's obeying primal codes against wasting typically scarce food energy. "Evolution has built us to love laziness," they conclude.
Let's also consider the benefits of not immediately leaping into every task. Might we be in better financial shape if mortgage lenders had been a little lazier in devising new products? Wouldn't Coca-Cola have fared better in the 1980s if the product development team had been a little more hesitant to leap into action? Might we all have better feelings about the "Star Wars" franchise if George Lucas had simply lacked the energy to create three "prequels"?
Regard the people of Europe, particularly France, who have bravely fought for the 35-hour workweek and continue to report themselves as more satisfied with their lives than overtime-blessed Americans. While high blood pressure, tension headaches and more fill doctor's waiting rooms here, Europe has reported no contrasting epidemic of idleness-related illness.
Bertrand Russell, in his seminal In Praise of Idleness, argued that modern work schedules leave people too exhausted to be interested in anything more than "such amusements as are passive and vapid." (And this before the triumph of commercial television.) Cutting the workday to four hours, he believed, could inspire a flowering of art, philosophy and science to eclipse the Renaissance.
Oscar Wilde similarly argued that leisure was necessary for anything approaching creative thought. "To do nothing at all is the most difficult thing in the world, the most difficult and the most intellectual," he proclaimed in The Critic as Artist.
Finally, one can't help but suspect that the lazy are more easily satisfied in life and gobble up fewer resources -- a virtue, no doubt, in these times of ecological peril -- in seeking happiness. I can't help but think of Ignatius Reilly, the bump of a protagonist in A Confederacy of Dunces, who seemed to require little more of life than a quiet room and a steady supply of Dr. Nut.
Playwright Wendy Wasserstein summarized it nicely in Sloth, her contribution to a series of essays covering the seven big sins:
Sloth is the fastest growing lifestyle movement in the world, and that's because it is completely doable. If you embrace sloth, it's the last thing you'll ever have to do again.
Fight Downhill Battles: Let Laziness and Inertia Make You More Productive Lifehack We humans have a tremendous capacity for keeping on doing whatever we’re already doing — even when it doesn’t make sense anymore.
10 Lazy Gadgets To Help You Automate Your Weekend Gizmodo This week it is all about gadgets that will help you breeze through the weekend with as little physical effort as possible—a guide to the ultimate in laziness.
On Sloth Stuff Out Loud Sloth doesn’t necessarily mean we’re doing nothing.
The sloth spit out Theologer Being zealous is never as easy as it should be.
Who's your favorite lazybones?
25% 25% 25% 25%
I was planning to write an eloquent post. But, after having taken the trouble to read the opening essay, I have decided that this would require more effort than I wish to put forth. Now, instead, I shall go to bed.
Being lazy has certain advantages.
When I'm lazy, I'm usually lying in bed watching the Food Network (Nigella, of course), or HGTV, or laying in the sun working on my tan. While being lazy I've learned new cooking techniques, kept up on remodelling skills, and gained a tan. So I vote for being lazy....you can gain knowledge just being lazy, (and a great tan!)
I read everyones comments yesterday. I want to thank DeadPirateRoberts, South-Side John, Mattofyrk, Spinner, MACKDADDY1, Mr. Roush, Capt. Neptune, and especially Mr. Peterman for allowing us the opportunity to express our feelings.
La Donna made a very nice comment to me in our personal Twitter Room.
My favorite idler without a doubt is Bartleby, the Scrivener. I rather admire his dedication. It takes determination to show up to a job each day only to then politely refuse to work. If we are entirely honest with ourselves, not to mention our employers, there are any number of requests to which we could respond, "I would prefer not to."
"Ambition is a poor excuse for not having sense enough to be lazy".
Edgar Bergen, (Charlie McCarthy)
US comedian & ventriloquist (1903 - 1978)
The 35 hour work week gives people more time at home and with their families.
We are hardly lazy here; we just work at different things.
To: Heiress,
May I ask, do you live in France!?!
My dear Heiress, you have put it beautifully. As anyone with children knows, sometimes going off to work is just the break you need from all the hard labor you go through at home.
The same can be said for that wonderful opportunity for sloth, vacation. Sometimes, you stress out so much on vacation that you end up needing a break from that! On my last vacation, everyone in the family got horribly sick. By the time we got home, I realized that vacations don't give you a break from work; they remind you HOW GOOD YOU HAVE IT at work!
Also, kudos to the Mock Turtle for his choice of the immortal Bartleby. Anyone who picks Herman Melville's creations as a favorite is okay with me. Dagwood, Gilligan, and Reilly, are all very well but I'm delighted to see this classic representation.
My favorite lazybones is actually a very obscure choice: I love the character of Michael Freeman from the old Broadway comedy, "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?" (not to be confused with the movie of the same name, which is a totally different story). Michael (played by a young Walter Matthau in the original) is a playwright who had such an enormous success with his first effort that he can live handsomely and comfortably on his fame and royalties ever after. Without any pretentions to artistic ambition, he is perfectly delighted to bask on his laurels and he never picks up his pen again. When asked, he describes himself as "A playwrote. A playwrote is a playwright who hasn't written anything lately."
Composer Gioacchino Rossini was suspected of a certain laziness, and many popular stories might sound as a confirmation. i.e., he was supposed to have composed his best known "Barbiere" in a very short time, because as usual he was late in respecting the delivery date. Some say he did it in 7 days; others, like Lodovico Settimo Silvestri, suggest in 14. Whatever the precise length, it was anyway a very little time for such masterpieces.
However, all the work was done with Rossini in his bedroom, wearing his dressing-gown. A friend once pointed out that it was undoubtedly funny that he had composed the "Barber" without shaving himself for such a long time. Rossini promptly replied that if he had to get shaved, he would have had to get out of his house, and he therefore would never had completed his opera.
Another story of Rossini composing in the comfort of his bed: One day an impresario went visiting him and found him writing music in his bed. Rossini, without even looking at him, begged him to collect a sheet that had fallen from the bed to the floor. When the impresario picked it up, Rossini gave him the other sheet he was writing and asked him: "Which one do you think is the better?" "But... they are completely alike..." said the embarrassed impresario. "Well... you know... it was easier for me to write another one than to get off the bed and search and pick the first one and then come back to bed..."
Rossini himself was very glad to describe his special virtues: here is what he told about his way of composing ouvertures: Wait until the evening of the day before the "Prima" (first night). Nothing can better excite the inspiration than the presence of a "copista" (copyst) waiting for your work and the mess of an "impresario" tearing his hair.
This is off topic, but I just got caught up on the whole Twitter account saga. It warms my heart to think I played a small part in this lovely little Internet romance between ExPat and La Donna.
Tony D said...
I regularly work 60+ hours every week and have done so for so long I wouldn't know what to do with all the free time a 35 hour work week week would provide. I can't stand doing nothing, I guess I have bad genes . . .
There is a lot to be said about laziness, but I’ll just say a little.
I sometimes think that laziness is often misunderstood. There are those who are so proficient at what they do that they make it seem effortless and are thought to be lazy.
I believe that what appears to be laziness may in fact be a manifestation of the fear of failure; one is simply “caught in the headlights” so to speak, unable to move. Richard Addams described this feeling in his novel “Watership Down” as “going tharn”.
I often believe that those who have the courage to actually spend a lot of time “looking inward”, being introspective, are often looked upon as being lazy. There are those, and I used to be amongst their number, who will work themselves until they are ready to drop in order to avoid such an encounter with themselves.
Then there are the fortunate ones who can get away with being blissfully lazy, spending as much time as they please merely woolgathering.
To paraphrase a quote by someone who’s identity I’m to lazy to investigate and discover (which in this case also serves to honor him), “I doubt you will ever see the words I WISH I HAD WORKED HARDER” as the epitaph on anyone’s tombstone.
Well my work is done here, another hard day at the office.
Be well
In the context of today's topic, the invention of the remote control for television (please note that I didn't just type TV), good thing or bad thing?
Spinner said...
SSJ, we better look out, we will be the subject of gossip as are ExPat and LaDonna. We already got by with that pole-dancing incident. "Going tharn" is part of my lexicon. I think it describes a lot of situations where people are paralyzed by too much input; work, decisions, too much information.
Living with an anthropologist for nearly 45 years, I find I fall back on an outlook from that point of view. When man (I am told "man" is not PC any more, so sue me) came up with the domestication of plants, this allowed groupings of people to form larger communities because an abundance of foodstuffs could be produced and this freed people to do things other than constantly grubbing for mere subsistence. This in turn, gave rise to specialization and crafts like pottery and greater design came into being. This would give credence to the idea that leisure time allows the artistic juices to flow. But.. when one has free time, it becomes so much more satisfying to have something creative and soul enhancing to do instead of just sitting in front of the tv and letting your mind go to mush. So many that retire find that golf can only go so far and they get restless. They start stalking like a caged animal. Somehow it comes as a surprise that we should have something to retire TO. I really don't think the human soul likes a vacuum. It wants to be stimulated with something, be that work, sports, travel, artistically creating something, or even challenging our minds with sudoku. However, an occasional refreshing nap is necessary to regroup once in awhile. Maybe this point of view comes from my Methodist upbringing (or brain-washing) because John Wesley preached that idleness was a sin. Whatever. I know that I am not happy when I wake up with nothing to do. I have to find a project somewhere. Of course, I realize that those days are few and far between when we are young, so know that they will come when retirement arrives. Prepare for it and be aware that doing "nothing" can only go so far.
To LaDonna:
My cafe'press t-shirt came today and I love it..."So much yarn, so little time". That states my mind-set here in my retirement years.
The other day, I mentioned that I would be out taking pix of my husband for the back of his book. The best ones we got were of him wearing his J Peterman jeans! That worked better than the fedora and whip.
To: South-Side John,
I saw a bumper sticker the other day perfect for a lazy Christian, it said: "Jesus is coming! Look Busy!" That would be a good epitaph on any lazy person's tombstone: "He looked busy".
Now, the remote control has advantages in the era of 900 channel TV. You can lay on the sofa and watch many shows at the same time. Just flip back and forth. Given the shallow nature of most TV shows, you don't miss much and you still understand every show.
I typed "TV" because I'm feeling lazy today, "television" would have at least made me "look busy".
To; Mr. peterman,
I made a note of your comment on page 4 of the Summer Owner's Manual No. 60 - "Refreshments Are Served". As your "friend" in L.A., facing a long, dry, and hot summer, the "Refreshing Seersucker Shirt" makes sense and is now on my "must have list".
I could really be lazy in that shirt. Thanks!
In the spirit of "Sloth Day", I didn't shave today and I feel great!
ExPat, I'm expecting the "Uncommon Tropical Shirt" to arrive later today. The nice thing about J. Peterman shirts, they allow you to look and feel spiffy no matter what your doing , or not doing as the case may be.
My favorite epitath; "I TOLD YOU I WAS SICK"
Spinner, you are so right about being prepared for retirement and the way that you and time have to coexist. When I first retired, I just threw myself into all manner of home improvement projects and new hobbies (obsessions) and it got to the point where I'd get out of bed at three in the morning and would be tearing down paneling and drywall in the basement, painting or refinishing the floors. I'm back to semi-normal now but it took some adjustments.
Spinner said...
SSJ:
... can you fix a john?
My favorite epitaph is inscribed on Dorothy Parker's tombstone: THIS ONE'S ON ME.
Now what's all this I'm hearing about South-Side John and Spinner trying to form a Polish ballet company?
Spinner
.... nope, no how, no way...... but I can tuna piano.
DPR,
The punitentiary is full of people who have made remarks like that.
Spinner said...
Ooooohhhhh! That's about as bad as anyone has come up with during our discussions. A prize I hope will not be toped..
SSJ,
I'll take any punishment you mete out. Just don't hang me. After all, no noose is good noose.
DPR & Spinner
I am humbled as I slowly wave my white flag of surrender and my cloven shield lies in the ruins. . .
Spinner,
By the way, you folks get a rousing standing ovation for 45 years. Good for you!