Proxemics and Public Space

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Tony Ochoa. I’m calling from Reno, Nevada.

Hi, Tony. Welcome. What’s going on?

Hey, I have a question regarding the term for the spacing that people put between themselves, like saying a line or a queue at a bank or a fast food restaurant.

My brother-in-law and my wife refer to it as personal space, but I’m kind of looking for something that’s a little more specific because I think that personal space can apply to, like, being in the ballpark or just any time that people are, like, jostling around or whatever.

The reason I’m asking is because I’ve noticed that the space is getting larger over time.

Yeah.

To the point where it’s not just the person who’s next in line. It’s the person behind them and then sometimes the person behind them.

And I’m just wondering if there’s a term for that that could apply to just that giant space that sometimes people keep around themselves.

And I’m also kind of wondering why it keeps getting larger.

I’ve even noticed it this morning in a line in a drive-thru to get coffee, like with cars.

Huh, no kidding.

I wonder if that’s just a Reno thing.

I haven’t noticed that in San Diego or when I travel that the space between people or cars is all that different.

I feel like psychologically there’s more space because people are looking at their phones.

Oh, interesting.

So they’re allowing for their own failure to catch up by giving more space in case they make a mistake.

I have noticed it.

I was thinking it might have to do with people using pens at the checkout line.

People may be giving people just a little bit more space just so they don’t feel like they’re looking at their pen or something.

Yeah, or here in California, if you’re lining up at the pharmacy, you have to give somebody space so that you don’t hear their health information and that kind of thing.

Yeah, they put that little line down there, don’t they?

Yeah, but it sounds like what you’re saying is if you’re lining up at the coffee shop or the airport or something like that, people are ending up farther apart, literally?

Yeah, I’ve noticed that.

And you want language for that space between people?

Yeah.

I can get you close to an answer, Tony.

There is a field that studies personal space or the space that people allow themselves in society or they allow each other.

And it’s called proxemics.

P-R-R-X-E-M-I-C-S.

And it comes from the word proximity.

So proxemics.

And this was coined in 1963 by a guy named Edward Hall.

And so there’s a whole field filled with jargon that describes many of the things that you’re talking about.

The way that we build our spaces to encourage people to either be further apart or to be closer.

For example, I believe the word is pronounced sosopital.

It looks like sociopital, socio plus p-e-t-a-l. And these are spaces that are designed to bring people together.

You also have sosophagal. It looks like socio-fugal. So it’s socio plus f-u-g-a-l. And these are spaces that are designed to minimize contact between people.

So, for example, when you have the markings on the line, say at the pharmacy counter where they want to keep you back while the other person is conducting your business, that particular feature on the floor is sysophical. It’s there to keep you away from the other person.

And there’s so much more of this. And I just want you to Google the industry term proxemics and just dig into it. You’re going to get more answers than you want. But it’s so fascinating because they’re looking at the animal in us and how the human that’s kind of like tacked on top of the animal addresses those animal needs for space.

And the animal need for regularization. It’s the whole joke about which urinal did you stand at when there’s more than one choice. You’ve got to separate yourself out from the other people who are already there.

Right. And then there’s that guy up there’s three urinals and he goes right for the middle. Yeah. Some people just have no shame.

So there are other terms that are fairly functional, just kind of ordinary terms. They talk about public territory and home territory, interactional territory, intimate distance, personal distance, social distance, public distance.

So there’s all this stuff that describes the way we behave when we’re alone, the way we behave when we’re with one other person or two people or groups of people, when we’re with family versus strangers.

And all of this is being studied by people who are designing buildings, figuring out the flow in stores and amusement parks. It’s very fascinating.

I think that’s exactly what I was looking for is the proxemics. Yeah. That’s great. Yeah, I love that word. Google that. I can’t hold down into that. Google that and you’ll have a whole new career for you.

Very cool. Thanks, guys. All right. Take care. Thanks, Tony. Bye-bye. Take care. Bye-bye.

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