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Ego-Alert

For people who like themselves too much
  (+7, -1)
(+7, -1)
  [vote for,
against]

This would be a simple button you wore to keep track of how often the person you're talking to says the words I, me, my or mine. If they go over a certain limit (number of times per minute or ratio to other words) then it begins to glow, yellow at first and then bright red if the speaker doesn't take the hint. It would have to be able to keep track of different speakers of course, and also be able to apply a different algorithm to stutterers. Seeing their egotism glaring back at them might be just the thing some of these people need to stop and listen to what you have to say. In the event that you're the one with the big ego then the button could vibrate at increasing levels until you figured out there were other real people around.
longshot9999, Dec 15 2004

[link]






       twit! to whoo!
po, Dec 15 2004
  

       po - Not sure what you mean.
longshot9999, Dec 15 2004
  

       'tis easier for me to deal with people who begin each sentence (especially requests) with 'I' than with any other pronoun.
reensure, Dec 15 2004
  

       I bbbbbbbbbbbbleeeep baah de baa bdaaa....
neilp, Dec 15 2004
  

       neilp thinks this is an interesting idea.
neilp, Dec 15 2004
  

       Aye, mine at an eye mine with a menial minority.
Ling, Dec 15 2004
  

       Is the HalfBakery babelfish broken? I haven't understood a single anno in this bleeble narg fro. Tregum plenk, porgles. Tregum NEDDLEAN porgles a storink.
not_only_but_also, Dec 15 2004
  

       "Porgles" has a nice sound. It ought to mean something.
Ling, Dec 16 2004
  

       <flurble>
up_on_cloud_nine, Nov 28 2008
  

       Eschewing egotism is the very reason that Laughs Last refers to himself in the third person.
Laughs Last, Nov 28 2008
  

       the I, Me, My, Mine, form of egotism is the least common and least malignant. The sort of egotism that passes judgment on other people for how they talk rather than what they say is more common and more perfidious imho.
WcW, Nov 28 2008
  

       I do mean to brag, having a big ego is better than being an egoless zombie (Obama vs. Biden). However, on the other side of things, the bigger and smugger the ego is, the harder it falls (Note: if and when the ego is wrong or if it gets cheated on). I think the line gets drawn when egotism is creating an environment of mutany (Bush?) rather than of collaboration (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson). Of course, it is always the big egos that go out and make the other big egos in the world feel bad, assuming they subscribe to separate beliefs in religion, politics, and sports. Anyhow, everybody has an ego, just not everybody uses theirs and thereby they (zombies) end up being used by others who have an agenda driven life (leaders). The important thing to abide by is to either choose your leader wisely, or decide to be a wise leader yourself.   

       Anyhow, since I've seen people with huge annoying egos in my life (hope I'm not one to be applied with the word annoying but I probably am at times), havabun. [+]
quantum_flux, Nov 29 2008
  

       You take one look at this idea, and you ask yourself, 'How do we distinguish between genuine empathy and respect for others and, on the other hand, a self-regarding projection of our own identity on to them?'
pertinax, Nov 30 2008
  

       I don't know.
Ian Tindale, Nov 30 2008
  
      
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