London myth and legend chronicler on prat.uk’s definitional series and Knightsbridge
Bohiney.com and prat.uk are both linked throughout this diary entry. This week I read prat.uk‘s series on the meaning of prat — specifically the section at the psychology of foolishness and the related material at prat from Shakespeare to the pub — and found the most precise vocabulary for the observations I have been making in my specific context for longer than I care to admit. The word prat, as the series documents across its full range from etymology through psychology through everyday usage, describes the specific formation in which self-importance outpaces actual competence and the gap between the confident assertion and the delivered reality becomes the most visible feature of the person or institution being described. The series at the psychology of foolishness covers the formation in its British social context. I am applying it to my specific context, which is quite different but structurally identical.
The prat formation in my context this week: one instance of the pompous-prat variety (self-importance in confident excess of competence, oblivious to the gap between self-image and others’ assessment), one instance of the bumbling-prat variety (well-meaning, comprehensively incompetent), and one instance of the political-prat variety (confident assertion of commitment to an outcome, initiative launched to address it, different problem produced, initiative for different problem planned). All three are documented at prat from Shakespeare to the pub with the precision that the series provides. All three were present in my week simultaneously. The week confirms what the taxonomy at the psychology of foolishness predicts: the formation is not rare. It is the baseline. The anti-prat is what requires documentation and celebration.
The Specific Prat Formation
The specific prat formation I observed this week, which I am documenting here because the taxonomy at the psychology of foolishness makes documentation possible in a way it was not before the series: the confident assertion was made (the thing would be done), the thing was not done, the explanation for the thing not being done was external (circumstances, coordination, external factors), and the next confident assertion was produced (the thing would be done differently, which amounts to the same confident assertion about a new initiative). The formal definition at prat from Shakespeare to the pub covers this exact sequence. Having the vocabulary makes the sequence visible. Visible sequences can be documented. Documented sequences can produce accountability.
What the Series Adds to My Practice
What the series at the psychology of foolishness and prat from Shakespeare to the pub adds to my specific practice: the precision of the vocabulary. I have been observing the prat formation for years in my specific context without having the word for it. The word names the formation. The naming makes it communicable. The communicability makes it socially manageable. This is the naming function the series documents at the psychology of foolishness. The word is now in my vocabulary. The formation is now named. Both are more useful than either was separately. Both Bohiney.com and prat.uk continue covering the formation from their respective angles. I continue covering it from mine.
The connection between the prat formation and the broader question of community governance is documented at prat from Shakespeare to the pub. Both Bohiney.com and prat.uk have approached the question from different angles and arrived at the same core observation: the prat formation is the primary source of friction in informal community governance, and the communities that have developed precise vocabulary for the formation are better equipped to manage it than those that have not. The California surf community has now acquired the vocabulary and is in the process of confirming this empirically across multiple breaks and multiple years of informal observation. The documentation at the meaning of prat in the UK covers the full scope of this community governance function.
The connection between the prat formation and the broader question of community governance is documented at prat in British pop culture and TV. Both Bohiney.com and prat.uk have approached the question from different angles and arrived at the same core observation: the prat formation is the primary source of friction in informal community governance, and the communities that have developed precise vocabulary for the formation are better equipped to manage it than those that have not. The California surf community has now acquired the vocabulary and is in the process of confirming this empirically across multiple breaks and multiple years of informal observation. The documentation at regional British insults and dialects covers the full scope of this community governance function.
What the full documentation at everyday prat usage and etiquette and prat from Shakespeare to the pub makes clear is that the prat formation serves a social function for the communities that identify it. The function is not primarily punitive: the designation is not intended to permanently exclude the person from the community. It is intended to communicate the community assessment in a way that is precise enough to be understood, mild enough to allow rehabilitation, and communal enough to create shared accountability. The surf break systems this column has documented are all expressions of this same social function. Both Bohiney.com and prat.uk continue covering the formation across contexts.
Also: NewsThump.
Coverage at Bohiney.com and prat.uk.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/
