Mar 26, 2009

What defines me

Just found this entry on Schott's Vocab blog and couldn't resist sharing:

"Amortality

A state of hopeful agelessness wherein one acts the same from adolescence to the grave.
Catherine Mayer related her theory of amortality in
Time magazine:

It’s about more than just the ripple effect of baby boomers’ resisting the onset of age. Amortality is a stranger, stronger alchemy, created by the intersection of that trend with a massive increase in life expectancy and a deep decline in the influence of organized religion – all viewed through the blue haze of Viagra. …


Amortals live among us. In their teens and 20s, they may seem preternaturally experienced. In later life, they often look young and dress younger. They have kids early or late – sometimes very late – or not at all. Their emotional lives are as chaotic as their financial planning. The defining characteristic of amortality is to live in the same way, at the same pitch, doing and consuming much the same things, from late teens right up until death.

According to Mayer, Simon Cowell, Madonna, Nicolas Sarkozy and Mark Zuckerberg are just some of those who inhabit the amortal realm."

Wow, I'm part of a realm?! (not sure I'm totally happy about the company...)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"They have kids early or late – sometimes very late – or not at all."

Seriously? You call that a discerning definition?

I, personally, would have liked to see some play on how "Amor" got tangled up with "Mortality"... I think that would have made a much more powerful interpretation than the prevailing one ;-)

Res I(p)sa said...

Tongue in cheek, my friend!

Agree with you on the linguistics, well spotted.