Seth Walsh
Iconoclast
Contributor
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2020
- Posts
- 11,007
- Reputation
- 22,490
“Funny” meant socially useful.
“Cute” meant attractive but structurally unresolved.
“Really nice” was dangerous.
“Such a sweetheart” was terminal.
“Interesting” meant the family situation required further review.
“Very confident” meant either rich or unbearable.
“Actually smart” meant insufficient academic strength but compensating infrastructure (family / balance sheet).
“Good family” meant the file had cleared compliance.
The most powerful adjective was simply:
“Normal.”
Normal did not mean normal.
Normal meant:
parents still married,
household solvent,
mother socially calibrated,
father employable in rooms with other fathers,
no visible family scandal,
no weird Facebook posts,
no inexplicable move to Dubai,
no brother currently “finding himself” in Thailand,
and preferably an older sister already vouched for by someone in the Girls' school.
"Normal" was institutional-grade credit.
“Cute” meant attractive but structurally unresolved.
“Really nice” was dangerous.
“Such a sweetheart” was terminal.
“Interesting” meant the family situation required further review.
“Very confident” meant either rich or unbearable.
“Actually smart” meant insufficient academic strength but compensating infrastructure (family / balance sheet).
“Good family” meant the file had cleared compliance.
The most powerful adjective was simply:
“Normal.”
Normal did not mean normal.
Normal meant:
parents still married,
household solvent,
mother socially calibrated,
father employable in rooms with other fathers,
no visible family scandal,
no weird Facebook posts,
no inexplicable move to Dubai,
no brother currently “finding himself” in Thailand,
and preferably an older sister already vouched for by someone in the Girls' school.
"Normal" was institutional-grade credit.
