A Dog Speaking French While Eating a Burrito: Abnormal or Awesome?

Ronald J. Comer’s Abnormal Psychology: Seventh edition states that “while many definitions of abnormality have been proposed over the years, none is universally accepted.” And in fact, the high-priced textbook does not give a straight-forward definition of abnormality. It does, however, explain that abnormality is often associated with “the four D’s”: deviance, distress, dysfunction and danger.

On the first day of my PS371 class, Professor Richardson presented a question to the audience that has had my mind searching for a concrete answer ever since: He asked us to define normality and, in turn, abnormality.

Although the physiological answer to this question may involve defining the latter as containing some kind of mental and/or emotion conflict that interferes with an individual’s daily life, I feel that the general public may view abnormal behavior more, shall we say, broadly.

Welcome back to the school year, kiddos. The beginning of classes, of stress, of excessive drinking, and of the wide variety of students walking, or running, down Comm. Ave. trying to get wherever they need to be. This is “How aMusing,” the column in which I will present some kind of “muse” that has boggled my mind and sparked thoughts in me other than how I’m going to get all my schoolwork done while attempting to still make it through my junior year of college relatively stress free and happy.

While last semester the column’s discussion was based mainly on poems that have grabbed my interest, this year I plan on making the muses anything from definitions to lyrics to conversations to images to, yes, poems.

Back to abnormality. In daily life, I feel like anyone can be abnormal. While probably not defined as so by a clinician, many individuals are often viewed by the public as abnormal, often based solely upon appearances, behaviors or speech.

But where is that line drawn? And why is it drawn there? These seem to be questions that can never be answered, regardless of superb intelligence or the amount of cran-grape smart-ass juice a person has been drinking all day.

Someone wearing army boots and a tutu while break -dancing to Celine Dion could be seen as abnormal. A dog speaking fluent French while eating a Boloco burrito could be seen as abnormal. The fact that I can muster up these examples off the top of my head while sitting in the library on three hours of sleep could, yes, also be seen as abnormal.

Seen as Abnormal? Probably. Awesome? Definitely. Photo by Flickr user Max Sparber

But why? These behaviors, although most likely deviating (one of “the four D’s”) from “the norm,” are not causing any danger to these individuals. (Although the dog may encounter some stomach problems from the burrito.) They simply stand out. But why must standing out be stamped with the negative connotations of “abnormal”?

Perhaps, as long as the actions are not causing distress to the person or the people around them, we can say that abnormal is a good thing. But, then again, that would involve defining abnormal, which Ronald J. Comer and I clearly cannot do.

About Lyssa Goldberg

Lyssa Goldberg is a junior at Boston University majoring in magazine journalism, with a minor in psychology and being a sarcastic Long Islander. She joined the Quad with the intention of introducing poetry in a way that could be relatable to the Boston University student population, and has trying to do that (plus share some thoughts on life) ever since.

View all posts by Lyssa Goldberg →

One Comment on “A Dog Speaking French While Eating a Burrito: Abnormal or Awesome?”

  1. This is definitely thought-provoking. How many times a day do we look at something and think to ourselves, “that’s just not right”?

    PS: In the first paragraph, last line you have “the THREE D’s”… you have four listed.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *