I defy your meaningless categories! I have meaningless categories of my very own!

[deird1]

My boss is making us do Myers-Briggs tests so that we can understand each other better. An idea I approve of, in theory.

In practice... I kinda hate Myers-Brigss. Mostly because I've never been able to figure out what I am. (Except for the "I-not-E" bit, which has been completely obvious since I was born.)


I really prefer the personality tests with four categories. You know - the ones that are always exactly the same, but try to pretend they're new and different by giving them funky names. (I've seen "earth; air; fire; water", "lions; otters; golden retrievers; beavers", "heart; mind; body; soul", "red; blue; yellow; green", and countless others.)

Me? I'm a phlegmatic, a yellow, an air, a golden retriever, a soul...

Actually, just "phlegmatic" will do. (Come to think of it, the Myers-Briggs one is just four letters long - maybe that'd be preferable.)

Comments

[redsixwing]

I'm with you on the tea and wine, but have to go with Beatles otherwise. X3

[worksofliterata.wordpress.com]

Partner now confirms that it was a four-axis test, with tea/coffee the original (and wine/beer a later add-on), where the other two axes are (American) football or baseball ("It doesn't matter if basketball is your favorite - which one of those do you like more?") and Mary Ann or Ginger (from Gilligan's Island). It's pretty obvious that it was a bunch of guys sitting around who came up with this stuff, although I can see how American football vs. baseball could exemplify different personality characteristics.

My answers are: tea, wine, Beatles, neither, and both.

Actually, one of the best books I read on personality types was a Wiccan one: Deborah Lipp's _The Way of Four_ has good overviews of the strengths and weaknesses of the classical four Elements in personalities, and while she draws on stereotypes and cliches, she pretty clearly talks about how we all have parts of each, and we need to work on being balanced, emphasizing the strengths, and using them as a way to help understand others, not to separate and divide us or prevent communication.

[klme.livejournal.com]

Yup, Beatles all the way :)