Definition of Introvert

Hi, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, Martha and Grant. This is Katie in Baltimore, Maryland.

Hi, Katie. How are you doing?

I’m very well. How are you guys?

Doing well. What’s going on in Balmer?

You’ve got the accent right.

Thank you.

I’m a subscriber to an online newsletter called Introvert Deer.

I’m a self-described introvert, and I kind of take interest in the culture surrounding that.

And recently I came across an article on Introvert Deer regarding Google’s definition of an introvert.

And the contributing writer was saying how much it bugged her.

And I have to say, when I read the definition, it also bugged me too.

And so she had set up a petition asking Google to change that definition.

And with all your expertise and, of course, Grant’s experience as a dictionary writer and editor and lexicographer, I was wondering what you guys thought about that and the possible success of the petition and how that might go.

They want to change the definition?

And what do they want to change it to?

Well, the Google definition, I can read it to you. It’s actually so terrible.

Okay.

It is a shy, reticent person, a person predominantly concerned with their own thoughts and feelings rather than with external things.

And number one, that sounds very selfish to me.

So I kind of take umbrage to that as an introvert.

And so what she proposed was a definition as follows.

Someone who has a preference for minimally stimulating environments due to a difference in the way sensory input is processed in the brain.

And I think that’s certainly much more accurate.

So your difficulty with the original definition is shy.

Selfish.

Selfish, yeah.

Selfish.

Well, it doesn’t say selfish.

But that’s just one definition.

Now, Google gets that definition from another dictionary.

They didn’t write that themselves.

Right.

I imagine not.

And she also mentioned the Cambridge Dictionary Online definition, which says someone who is shy, quiet, and unable to make friends easily.

Ooh.

Now that’s kind of.

Yeah, which is even worse.

I sure have seen a lot of introvert pride online lately.

A lot of people on Facebook posting things about, this is how introverts really are, you don’t understand us, that kind of thing.

The Internet is made for introverts, though, right?

I don’t have to be social unless I want to be social.

That is a very good point.

Yeah, it’s sort of like I once read that those cat videos are sort of like introverts’ versions of dog parks.

I have a thousand things to say, but I think the first one is here, just to kind of cut this off a little bit, because we could go on for an hour about this.

Sure.

Is I’m not sure that addressing the dictionary definitions is the way to go about changing people’s understanding of what an introvert is.

Because the dictionaries aren’t really great tools for changing common perception.

I know a lot of people think that.

I see tons of campaigns to change this dictionary or that dictionary or fix this part of a definition or that part of a definition.

And really, to be utterly honest about it, the people that you need to talk to aren’t the lexicographers.

It’s editors and copy editors of periodicals and other publications.

These are the people whose work can really turn around the public’s view of what it means to be an introvert.

They can flag misconceptions about introversion in writers’ work and make sure that it’s proper in there.

And so if I were running a campaign, I think I would talk to the style guide writers and not the dictionary writers.

Well, that’s so interesting.

I think I would campaign more on Facebook, actually.

I think I’ve come to understand introverts probably more in the last year than I have.

How would you do it on Facebook?

Just funny images or a page?

I mean, I don’t know if you see these, Katie, but I see lots and lots of articles about this is how I really am.

This is how to treat me.

You don’t need to treat me.

You know, and posters and that kind of thing.

I mean, but I think Grant and I are both making the same point, which is that the dictionary definition is not what’s going to change people’s perception.

I got to say, it’s really interesting how different the dictionary definitions are for introvert and introversion.

And what’s really interesting to me, I actually worked on some of the Cambridge Dictionary.

So the definition that you cite is from a learner’s dictionary.

And those are by necessity really brief.

And because they have a limited vocabulary, they can’t get very technical.

They tend to be really general and they can’t get specific.

So the proposed definition that you’ve got here wouldn’t fly in any dictionary that I’ve ever edited.

The main difficulty is that last part where it says, due to a difference in the way sensory input is processed in the introvert’s brain.

That’s encyclopedic.

That’s not a thing that a dictionary is ever going to include.

But the first part, I think, is really solid.

An introvert is someone who has a preference for minimally stimulating environments.

And what it does really effectively leaves out judgment.

And it doesn’t have anything to do with their motives or their intentions.

Or their brains.

Yeah, I agree.

And I think even some scientists might argue with the part of the proposed definition about the way sensory input is processed.

Processed itself, that word has a lot of problems and probably would be avoided.

Agreed. It’s a bit vague and overbroad.

But again, so if you want to go back to this website, to this community of people that you found that really speak to your introversion, I would counter-propose that they start working in different avenues that have nothing to do with the dictionary.

I mean, there’s a nice thing about getting a dictionary company to listen to you.

You feel heard, right?

Yeah.

They recognize your status as a group.

You feel like, oh, yeah, I do have a voice.

They sent me a response.

But I got to tell you, dictionaries, they get bombarded all the time by giant companies with huge squads of lawyers who have no effects.

None.

You know, they almost never, ever give in to any of these campaigns because all that the dictionary makers look at is the evidence.

How does the world use the word introvert?

And that’s what they’re writing a definition for.

Go back to your community and propose that they work on this campaign, only just not target the dictionary editors because it’s kind of a lost cause.

Well, I think that’s a great idea.

Okay.

Katie, I think introverts all over are thanking you right now.

They’re high-fiving you.

Well, I’m so glad.

Yeah, we’re united separately in our own homes.

Exactly.

United separately in your own homes.

Thanks, Katie.

Thank you so much for calling.

Take care now.

Well, thank you for having me.

I really appreciate it.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye now.

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