Comments on A Philosophical Question Inspired by This Season's Project Runway

Joanie doesn't think there's anything wrong with third-person references.

I think it's because it implies overweening conceit.

2: Definitely, but why should one person's overweening conceit make others want to die?

I imagine it has something to do with reflexive empathy, the sense that "If that were me caught referring to myself in the third person, I'd want someone to kill me immediately..."

Because it makes you sound more important than you really are.

You should watch; after just two episodes this is shaping up to be an EXCELLENT season. Much, much better than S4. Better good designers, and better bad ones too. Even yamface showed sparks of real personality last night, when he was mocking Stella's lust for leatha.

Ask Elmo.

i blame bob dole.

@3: It's not that it makes others want to die, but that it makes others want to kill the self-referencer.

There is something empathic going on, though. I refer to myself as I because I consider my consciousness inextricably tied to my physical body. Referencing myself in the third person implies a split there - the actions of my body being somehow independent of a conscious narration of those actions. There are overtones of conceit because it makes one's life into what sounds like a narrative - a novel, or a newspaper article, for example. It presents one's self as a set of immutable facts - no changing the mind or tastes of he who refers to himself in the third person.

5: Fucking Elmo is one of the worst offenders. In my day, Muppets talked like people, not retards. In my dreams, Grover runs over Elmo with a steamroller and feasts on the remains.

4: Good to know, and to clarify, my refusal to watch this season is really just a refusal to watch this season live. It's all stashed in my TiVo and perhaps I shall revisit...

Also, I just realized that the only people who can refer to themselves in the third-person with impunity are CAVEMEN.

Schmader I love that you occasionally interact and adress points in the comments. Love all ups on you.

And the multiple-personalitied, as Sybil.

Doesn't Hulk get all third-person on our asses?

And Jim Darkmagic.

(Thanks, Non. My pleasure.)

JTC's right: Full exemption for the Hulk.

I think the empathy thing is a big part of it. Hopefully it's as painful for him to watch as it is for us. Referring to yourself in the third person is bad enough, but when coupled with calling yourself "Suede," it's practically a hate crime. Against Suede.

I can deal with Swede's third person addiction but what I have the hardest time with is Yammy's insistance on ended EVERYTHING with "licious".

the third-person is just dandelion.

what would happen to suede if everyone just referred to him all season in the second person? "hey you."

But isn't the true story of last night's episode Stella's atrocious asymmetrical Donna Martin Graduates/Tawny Kitaen/Skanky Santa's helper lace up "cocktail" "dress"? WTF, Klum!

Referring to one's self in the third person becomes exponentially more annoying when coupled with spitting, squinting-with-intensity proclamations of rocking this or having rocked that. In the third person.

Suede's dress was really cool though.

And, no, I'm not Suede writing this. Otherwise I would have said, "And, no, Suede is not Suede writing this."

chops @17, "hey you" and "hey Suede" would both be second person.

And if Suede referred to himself with pronouns like "he" or "him," it would still be third person (and might sound even more obnoxiously regal).

personally, i think renaming oneself is a much more egregious crime against humaninty. renaming oneself after what is arguably the most heinous permutation of leather -- or perhaps more favorably, a middling britpop act from the early 90s -- is even more unsettling.

Yeah, "-licious" is WAAAAAY more annoying than the third personism.

Does anyone else desperately want the leather-lover to get kicked off? It seems like all she does is whine about how the challenges are not her style.

I'm thinking of renaming myself Naugahyde.

Suede's real name really is Suede. His mother's name was Velvet and his father was Leather, so it just made sense.

"-licious" is such a ridiculously transparent attempt at being the new "fierce." "Fierce" was annoying enough, but "-licious" is terrible and just makes Yammy seem like a total fame whore.

The royal "we". Pffft.

Does anyone else desperately want the leather-lover to get kicked off?

I haven't seen last night's episode yet- DVR'ed it to watch with the kids tonight- but if the "leather-lover" is Stella, then yes I want her kicked off.

No- scratch that. I want 99942 Apophis to land directly on top of her at ~10kps, instantly rendering her and the surrounding terrain to approximately 500m out back into their superheated gaseous molecular components.

She's easily the most annoying candidate since that the skinny brunette "brilliant" lawyer who couldn't design her way out of a paper bag...

I am still reeling from Tim Gunn's usage of "caucus" last night (You will have 30 minutes to caucus with your models).

I love leather lady. She has seen some shit in her time, you can tell.

tim gun has appropriated 'hot mess' for himself.

that's tranny-dandelion-icious, if you ask suede.

see you at red lobster.

Big Sven @28, nice imagery.

Bizarro thinks Bizarro am also referring to me in person three.

This thread is so much better than the actual show.

I'm fine with Cher, I mean Stella, remaining for entertainment value, but I'm with Meagan... last night's dress was an atrocity that did not belong in the top three at all.

I woulda put Keith's parachute-y concoction in the finals instead.

WTF? Stella is the first of these contestants whom I'd invite to a party. The Chan Marshall lookalike is the second.

Also: Suede's third-person references are a problem because his birth name is "Bruce."

P.S.: Cuteness! I'd get it on with Prince William too.

http://www.bravotv.com/blog/thedish/2008/07/wes_and_daniel.php

@34: I think a more fitting name is Cheroin. Is it just me, or is it fucking weird that Blayne de Soleil has crows feet at 23? Just askin.

Suede's head look like a pregnancy test. He's definitely this year's Ricky. I just hope someone can make him cry!

I'm surprised no one else has mentioned perhaps one of the funniest moments last night:

Mr. Tanfastic's monologue about Stella's family, friends, and pets being comprised entirely of leather, intercut with her incessant whining about wanting only leather materials.

And when she called him out on it, best line of the night:

"I'm sorry, Leatherface."

"it looks like a pterodactyl from a gay jurassic park"

Agreed Schmader, the 3rd person reference is annoying. And my new phrase:

"yam-colored hate crime against taste"

@myself..."new favorite phrase"

I like this season much more than last season. Constestants are more interesting and the models are more stunning, frankly. Love the lea-thuh lady.

Jimmy wonders how everyone can possibly forget Jimmy the original 3rd person talker from Seinfeld...I guess Jimmy is relegated to the 1990's. :(

> Why is referring to yourself in the third person so repugnant?

Undeniably, there's no problem when Japanese girls do it Japanese, though...