Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)

I had not intended to write a post today. Instead I thought I would spend time this morning polishing the week’s Six Sentence Story and, perhaps, work on Chapter 2 of my Facebook serial, ‘The Case of the Missing Starr’.

But then, as I was doing some research on proper capitalization of titles (i.e. is a full partner in a law firm a Full Partner or a full partner?) I read the following:

“If your firm is pruning you for a top spot,”

I laughed out-loud sitting at my computer.

Its been a while since I’ve written a post dedicated to the characteristics of the predominant worldview of the Herd Member, aka rogers.

I won’t be doing that today. Not enough time. I will, however, be talking to you about what is arguably the most distinctive (and fun) traits of our rogerian brethren/bretheria, the rogerian expression.

(Excerpted and edited from our page on rogers):

A rogerian expression is not simply an incorrect use of words, rather it is a deliberate use of the wrong words resulting in a statement that denies the listener the option to ignore it.. You know them when you hear them. There is a moment of disbelief, then you laugh and shake your head in  rueful admiration.  Examples:

First recorded rogerian expression. When asked at dinner one night by his wife, Camille, if he wanted more mashed potatoes, Roger replied, ‘No thanks, I think I’ll surpass on that…’

(other examples):

…looking at his paycheck, a roger was heard to say: ‘Oh man! Look at how much they deducted for aggravated security‘

…talking about  a new DVD release for a movie: ‘No, I am going to wait until they release the un-abashed edition‘

…about to talk to a client: ‘I know I have to give them the bad news with the good news, I just won’t baby-coat it‘

…writing in a blog about how egotistical certain real estate agents tend to be, an unknown roger wrote: ‘I have to say that as a professional class, most agents are much too self-absorbent…’

It’s just another example of how the perspective afforded by the Wakefield Doctrine is not merely insightful, it’s fun!