December 19, 2009
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Entry 263: Snow and Tools
Insane amount of snow today. My fridge was mostly empty except for beer. Since I’m moving out soon, I didn’t want to have that many perishables in stock. I should have enough canned foods to last until the snow is over. We’ll see.Had an interesting car ride driving myself and my boss home after our Holiday Party. Thank god for all wheel drive on my Subaru.
Yesterday, I heard someone use the term “tool” to describe someone else. Now I had only heard this term one other time before to describe a set of girls. But this time it was in reference to a guy. When I researched online for the slang definition, I got what I felt were incorrectly assigned traits. I think the official definition is a person who “let’s themselves be used” or “incapable of understanding that they are being used”. Some were adding that never taking risks was part of this meaning. I believe that, being risk adverse… although probably highly correlated with the personality type of a tool… isn’t really a defining component.
I also feel it’s important to get the focus of the meaning right, so that person being called that can appropriately address the charge. Almost like being charged for a crime. Take for example the derogatory term of “gullible” which is also highly correlated to a “tool” personality type. If a person works on their awareness when others lie to them, to try to not be gullible, they may still fall victim to people who tell the truth, but still take advantage of them. Like a friend frequently giving/lending out other people money as favors. If the reasons for lending are all true, that friend isn’t gullible. But if they were extemely regular incidences or the intentions were often not noble, then that may tag the friend as a tool.
Having a spine and standing up for yourself, is an important trait to possess. I think taking risks and being cautious of people’s intentions is also important, but they could be separate areas of focus.
