The Glory of Silliness!

[Ermine]

This was inspired by the discussion in Ashenstar's Put an INTP... thread. It basically mentioned how some of us INTPs are still kids at heart, doing silly things and pretending for the fun of it.

I thought I'd take a different angle on this idea and look into the psychological benefits of play, pretending, and generally being silly. Or you can just be silly in response to this thread. Here's a couple classics from TED on the subject.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/tim_brown_on_creativity_and_play.html
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/stuart_brown_says_play_is_more_than_fun_it_s_vital.html

So I guess I'll start things off with the silly "childish" things I do.
- impulsive art experiments using unusual media. They usually don't turn out spectacularly, but they lead to something interesting and I laugh along the way.
- weird subject matter in conversations, whether the others are ready or not.
- I do spatial experiments, such as lying on my back, pretending I'm stuck to the ceiling, or pretend I'm 1 inch tall, stuff like that.
- belting it out to my favorite songs
- playing with kids on occasion and fully participating in their games
- playing with tile patterns on the floor

Anyway, the main psychological benefits are that I'm more comfortable entertaining any idea that comes to mind, and sharing it with others, and that the ideas actually come in the first place because I'm willing to look at things in different ways. And the laughter and play make me happier and healthier.

 

[fullerene]

yesss.... thank you so much . I think the ideas that come out of here'll be good for me.

 

[PhosterPhoster]

i refer to this (http://www.intp.org/intprofile.html) profile a lot, i'm sure it's widely spread, but I'll quote from it...

[FONT=Tahoma,Helvetica]Extraverted iNtuition has a strong influence on how the INTP views his own interaction with others. It is the Ne above all that the INTP most loves to show others. He is therefore happy to be seen as somewhat eccentric...

[/FONT] [FONT=Tahoma,Helvetica]Humour is another aspect which marks out the INTP. He can readily dream up jokes about almost any situation. Taking things out of context is the chief source of humour and many an INTP is a Monty Pythonite. The Ne is the engine and source of this joke-generator. Needless to say, the humour of an INTP can be pretty zany and warped and may not be understood easily by others. The problem is that the Ne concepts for jokes are put into a structure only by the Ti. Hence, the humour can become black and tactless, having felt little Feeling input. Funnily enough, INTPs are dreadful tellers of jokes (which seems to be more the domain of those with Se), perhaps because they pay too little attention to detail when speaking spontaneously. If you see someone smirking and laughing at some private thought, without any obvious reason, he's probably an INTP. INTPs may however make good comedy writers...

[/FONT]

i'm pretty silly, sure. but also i'm not. i'm very very dry so its a kind of serious silliness.

 

[loveofreason]

The Arena.

 

[Cavallier]

I definitely do silly. A lot.

Lately, when at work I've taken to having a "friend" with me at all times. We have a lot of stuffed animals and toys at work and I'll find one that's been damaged and carry it around all day long. I'll give it a name and a personality and when I have bad news for somebody at work I'll have them hold the "friend" for comfort or I'll leave the "friend" with people who seem to be having a bad day. If customers ask me about the "friend" I just say, "oh, that's Fred" and then go on without any further explanation. If I'm feeling particularly weird I'll tell coworkers that my "friend" has been telling me things about them. I'll leave the "friend" in strategic places meant to surprise my fellow coworkers. For example, I recently left the "friend" sitting in the office chair pointing toward the door in the cash office so that when the opener came in and unlocked the door the "friend" would be there staring at them. It's a little weird to walk into an office and find stuffed animal that really shouldn't be there staring at you at 6 in the morning.

Also, we have walkies at work so that we can all be connected to the "hive mind" and we have headsets that we use so that we can ask questions and talk to one another without disturbing the customers. I use the walkies to read the backs of particularly raunchy romance novels or humor books in various voices. Some people at work have favorites that they request now. I also make up alternate lyrics to the songs playing on the overhead and sing them to everybody over the walkies.

Have I mentioned that I get really bored at work?

 

[EditorOne]

Also, we have walkies at work so that we can all be connected to the "hive mind" and we have headsets that we use so that we can ask questions and talk to one another without disturbing the customers.

You work for The Borg? Can you assimilate me with Seven of Nine?

 

[Anthile]

I loathe sillyness but yet I'm quite silly myself most of the time. I guess that comes from the mirroring.

 

[jachian]

Yeah !!

I so want to do silly stuff..... but I have no one to be silly with..

 

[Ashenstar]

I politely request more silly.

The other day I was in the passenger seat of the car with my bf driving. I was.....ahem doing my passenger driving game thing and was just shifting when my bf says "Uh, this is an automatic dear"

I kept driving and told him nicely "Shut up!!! I'm playing over here!" and then I think I giggled or something.

Jachian, you do not need someone to be silly with! You just do it by yourself and then laugh and prance off when the people around shake their heads and call you crazy. Well that's what I do anyway. Jachian, I give you permission to go be silly. Or.....maybe I don't.... <_< I don't know how you work. ahem

@EditorOne. teehee

I think one of the main benefits of being silly for me is that it keeps me forever young

 

[Fukyo]

Uh, lets see. I have these horrible laughing fits. I start giggling like a mad woman at every little thing. It's kind of horrifying... because I'm not really sure if it's the manic insane or just your normal laugh...

And then the periods of hyperness... I start bouncing off the walls, talking animatedly, making hand gestures...trolling...socializing.

 

[jachian]

I politely request more silly.

The other day I was in the passenger seat of the car with my bf driving. I was.....ahem doing my passenger driving game thing and was just shifting when my bf says "Uh, this is an automatic dear"

I kept driving and told him nicely "Shut up!!! I'm playing over here!" and then I think I giggled or something.

Jachian, you do not need someone to be silly with! You just do it by yourself and then laugh and prance off when the people around shake their heads and call you crazy. Well that's what I do anyway. Jachian, I give you permission to go be silly. Or.....maybe I don't.... <_< I don't know how you work. ahem

@EditorOne. teehee

I think one of the main benefits of being silly for me is that it keeps me forever young

Okay............... well you were with your bf... That probably helps.

I will attempt........... but at some level it sounds scary.

 

[Dormouse]

I break out into song. Or feed people bullshit about various random topics. (I've convinced people I was a triplet. And that various types of fruit are in fact parasitic insects.)

 

[EditorOne]

A Cliff Clavin kind of know-it-all, Dormouse? From the US television comedy "Cheers" back in the 1980s? Cliff was a postman who seemed to spend most of his time in the bar and offered up factoids about obscure topics he considered compelling and fascinating, upon the slightest provocation. He was almost always right, but somehow also almost always irrelevant. A good "silly model."

 

[Cavallier]

You work for The Borg? Can you assimilate me with Seven of Nine?

Ha. I certainly could but...well, she's hot to look at but not so hot when connected to your ear...okay, so that still sounds hot.

 

[Jaico]

It's good to know that I'm not the only one who has fits of silliness sometimes; I also play with tile patterns on the floor...that xkcd comic pretty much sums up how I think whenever someone points out my habit. I find that subtly taking on certain aspects of fictional characters in social situations and seeing how long it takes for someone to notice it to be quite amusing, as well...

My trains of thought also usually end up being slightly offbeat, too - it seems that whenever I let my mind wander, it arrives at the most preposterous conclusions...