[ScientiaOmnisEst]

I swear every day half the articles on the front page are "Something something Narcissist". I've heard people say it's almost a trend today to label someone you don't like a narcissist, like how in past decades anyone who's socially awkward is autistic, or anyone who spaces out has ADHD.

Mainly it's just getting a little repetitive.

[DocJohn]

Agreed. But we don't dictate to our bloggers what kind of topics they should or must write about -- they're welcomed to write about whatever they want in their topic areas.

I'll take a closer look at this and see if we can offer them some guidance about not beating a topic to death. For bloggers whose main focus is not narcissism, this seems very doable.

Funny, I just got an email from PsychCentral newsletter with the subject line "The Cumulative Effect of Narcissist Abuse".

It seems these narcissism centered blogs are mainly used for the author to vent, which seems to be a legitimate use of blogs (if my understanding is correct). But I've also seen the narcissism blog writers distorting the concept--it was kind of troubling to see it on the Professional section, where one author routinely described people who can't be controlled, particularly someone who won't behave the way she wanted, as an example of narcissists having bad boundaries.

I am a survivor of one family member who has the disorder and also a sociopath, so I had to quit reading these blogs. It was kind of confusing to read that the one trying not to be controlled was the one with the boundary problems. It reminded me too much of childhood trauma.

I just kind of laughed though when I saw the subject line in my inbox and remembered this thread. Nice that John responded to the feedback here.

[Open Eyes]

Two of the therapists I have spent time with told me the problem is that society overall has become very narcissistic.

[leejosepho]

I remember a time elsewhere when the label "neurotic" also got tossed around a lot. Personally, I typically try to avoid all labels and just describe actions or symptoms since I am not a clinician and neither do I know all the actual definitions any better than most people.

[Travelinglady]

I think this topic has become popular at least in part because the U.S. President has been diagnosed (not by his going to a psychiatrist) as having narcissistic personality disorder.

I personally have found some of the articles on the subject to be helpful and interesting, since my mother is narcissistic.

They also help explain what the POTUS says and does--and should be a good predictor of future behavior. Alas.

I'm sure this topic will lessen in popularity with time.

[leejosepho]

Originally Posted by Travelinglady

...what the POTUS says and does...

I did not know what "POTUS" meant, so I looked it up...

The earliest recorded use any variant of -OTUS is from 1879, when SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States) appeared in a book titled The Phillips Telegraphic Code for the Rapid Transmission by Telegraph. This work, by Walter P. Phillips, was one of a large number of code books which allowed people to send inexpensive or secret messages via telegraph. Telegraphs were priced based on length, so one wanted to use as few words as possible. SCOTUS appeared between the abbreviations for scoundrel (scndrl) and scribble (scribl).

The next -OTUS word to enter our vocabulary was POTUS, short for "President of the United States," which was used as early as 1895. POTUS also began as an abbreviation used by telegraphic code operators. It wasn't the first shortening used by the telegraphic community for this title: Frank Miller’s 1882 Telegraphic Code to Insure Privacy and Security in the Transmission of Telegrams offered the curious suggestion of telegraphing the word mortmain, rather than "President of the U.S." As one of the meanings of mortmain is "the influence of the past regarded as controlling or restricting the present," it seems possible that the code book's compiler had a sense of the poetic.

Although SCOTUS and POTUS are by far the most common words to use this suffix, they are far from the only ones. FLOTUS ("First Lady of the United States") appeared in the 1980s, where it may have originated as the Secret Service's code name for Nancy Reagan. The Vice President is occasionally referred to as VPOTUS, although the difficulty in pronouncing the initial vp of that word perhaps contributes to its relative scarcity.

Occasional nonce-usages of -OTUS will come up, such as COTUS (constitution) and TOTUS (teleprompter, in a dig at President Obama's ostensible use of them). Time will tell if additional -OTUS words continue to join our language.

What do SCOTUS, POTUS, and FLOTUS mean?

Sincerely,
CTZNOTUS