‘My father is a total dick‘
Yes this is what I saw written in my son’s exercise book yesterday. It was just a glance as he doesn’t like me looking at his work nowadays.
While by no means always true, I thought an 11 yr old boy should probably have a tad more respect for his old Dad than to show it to his teacher.
I confronted son today after school.
And yes, you saw what i didn’t – it was his German homework.
‘Mein vater ist total dick’ doesn’t mean what I thought.
Dick means large or stout which may or may not be better than thick as in ‘duuhhrrr‘ –
Therefore the sentence translates as
My father is a real fatty
Phew. And I was wondering if the school hadn’t been overstepping the mark just a little.
Now my ramblings are taking me from German homework to Donald Trump
WHY?
Well I’ve been interviewing friends to see what sort of relationship they had with their own fathers. What did they think of them, in German or otherwise?
Surprise surprise !! Those with bullying ones, had much stronger and more personal opinions on the Big Orange I AM than others who held equally disapproving but more objective views.
The word ‘Psychopath’ and ‘Sociopath’ cropped up frequently.
Here’s some *research on those loosely used terms. It started me wondering about the new leader of the free world and whether it’s a free world anymore.
There are similarities between a psychopath and a sociopath. These conditions nearly always present before the age of 15. Â By the time they are an adult, they are well on their way to having one of these disorders.
Also known as antisocial personality disorder, it applies to anyone who has 3 or more of the following traits:
PSYCHOPATHS (tend to be born with these traits, though they may also suffer from a childhood trauma)
- Tend to form artificial, shallow relationships designed to benefit the psychopath
- Psychopaths rarely feel guilt regarding their behaviours no matter how much they hurt others
- Often seen as charming and trustworthy holding steady, normal jobs
- Some even have families and seemingly-loving relationships with a partner
- Tend to be well educated but also may be autodidacts
- If they engage in criminal behaviour, they will carefully plan to ensure they don’t get caught
SOCIOPATHS (tend to be conditioned by their environment)
- Tend to be more impulsive and erratic
- Become agitated and angry easily
- Some are able to form attachments to like-minded people or groups
- Most don’t hold down long-term jobs
- Few present much of a family life to the outside world
- When they engage in criminal behaviour, they tend to do so in a reckless manner without regard to consequences
Who is more dangerous?
They both present risks to society, but psychopaths have the more dangerous disorder, as they feel less guilt attached to their actions.
Up to 3% of the population (and a majority of males) may qualify for a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder.
I’d love to know if any of this rings true for anyone you know?
Is your father a total dick?
If you’re reading this and your father is the new **POTUS …
Decide whether it’s a German translation, but I think you’ll find the answer (so sue me) is
YES
*According to Dr John Grohol Psy.D
**President of the United States
The Trump / May cartoon is brilliant! You’ve caught her beautifully 🙂 #fridayfolics
Thanks. I thought it’s easier to live with them (politicians) as animals. There’s a whole farm in development straining to burst out of the barn door! I know Mr Orwell got there first, but don’t think he had a vulture. jo 🙂 #fridayfrolics
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Ha ha, brilliant. I love what your son was actually trying to say. Your last line made me nod in agreement #fridayfrolics
Thanks for dropping by. We’ve got to tell them eh! #fridayfrolics
In Dutch it is Dik. I don’t know which meaning my husband would find the most offensive. Love the Trump/May cartoon, you have her to a tee. Thank you for linking up to #EatSleepBlogRT
I’m learning so much blogging away here. Now i know OH is a total dik too 🙂 Glad you like May vulture drawing, well that’s how i see her anyway #eatsleepblogRT
A great cartoon and an interesting post. It got me thinking. Alison x #AnythingGoes
Thanks Alison #anythingGoes
I won’t look at our pigs and chickens quit the same way tomorrow! #bigpinklink
Haha. You know i saw her as a vulture but now i think of it she’s quite chicken really. Perhaps a genetic hybrid? #bigpinklink
Great read. I know a Psychopath and they really dangerous people. The fact they hold no guilt is quiet scary #eatsleepblogrt
Yes it’s the complete lack of accountability isn’t it? Like angry toddlers. Two minutes later the sun comes out and they’ve forgotten about the tantrum while you’re lying on the floor in pieces #eatsleepblogrt
My father’s not a dick but Trump is! Great cartoon. Thanks for linking up to #FridayFrolics
Glad you like the cartoon Claire. I wish there was something more we could do but sadly the horrible man thrives on any old publicity so I’m just fanning the flames of his gargantuan ego. Let me know if you have an answer x jo #fridayfrolics
Haha – loving the German homework! I always thought that Ich liebe dich, whilst a lovely sentiment in German, sounds rather insulting when you are English!
I used to work with prisoners, mostly life sentenced ones, and did a lot of work about personality disorders and psychopathy. Here we don’t actually use sociopath – it’s an American concept, and not a diagnosis. I’ve always found it interesting because, although technically it doesn’t really exist as any actual disorder, we all in fact know exactly what it means and people we would apply it to! Psychopaths are interesting. Most psychopaths are not dangerous at all. Certain jobs (upper management, politics, military) will attract unusually high numbers of people with high psychopathic traits. And in certain circumstances, psychopaths are extremely useful, because they will take risks and be unclouded by emotion. In inter-personal relationships they are, of course, difficult in many ways. But violent or dangerous? Not usually. Because part of the assessment for psychopathy includes anti-social and illegal behaviour, offenders will always score higher than the population at large, though that is not to say most pass the threshold for psychopathy. Where the dangerous aspect comes in is when people have psychopathy combined with certain personality disorders, generally those falling in the anti-social group. Most commonly it is anti-social PD with psychopathy or narcissistic PD with psychopathy. Here we took to referring to that as Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorder. A controversial ‘diagnosis’, and the management proposed for it was even more controversial. But it essentially refers to a very small proportion of people who are also the most dangerous. Serial killers would mostly fall in the category, for example. The reason it was very controversial is because it is a tiny number of people and hard to accurately detect, but because they are likely to be very dangerous there is an appeal in the idea of ‘if we could identify these people, could we hold them indefinitely for what we believe they are capable of, rather than what they have yet done?’ Obviously ethical issues to that. As for Trump, narcissistic PD seems the most commonly held view from psychologists and psychiatrists, and he certainly fits that profile. Psychopathic too? Could well be. Either way, hard to reason with, lacking in empathy & conscience, superiority complex. Not really good! It’s an interesting field though! (You can probably tell I feel that from my rambling – sorry about that, I never get to talk about personality disorders and forensic psychology any more!)
Interesting that you found Trump was referred to more in the terms of those disorders by people who had difficult fathers. It does make sense though, doesn’t it?
Well, I’ve rambled enough. Found this very interesting. Laughed a lot at German misunderstandings. Thanks so much for joining us on #FridayFrolics
Goodness, there’s several posts in this! You obviously have extensive knowledge on the subject and must have worked with some pretty ‘interesting’ people. I had no idea that sociopathy is a concept rather than a diagnosis. One’s aware of course of top jobs attracting those with psychopathic traits – I touched on it in an earlier post on DT – and also how we celebrate ‘heroism’ in war and for instance in the boxing ring, when, occasionally, a minority may take risks which don’t feel hard at the time (as you describe ‘unclouded by emotion’). When I was researching, it brought to mind characters at the school gate who seem a bit twitchy, but who knows they might be thinking the same of me. Thanks so much for taking the time to clarify and i hope to be back next week jo x #fridayfrolics
Most awesome reply ever. Really enjoyed reading that, thanks! 🙂
Thanks lovely! #KCACOLS
That made me chuckle (the dick bit anyway). Fascinating reading
Just read somewhere that it takes 3.5% of people to effect change. That means about 8million Americans need to be constantly protesting. Or just under 2 million. Tell me my maths is wrong but that’s my ball park figure.
An engaging read and great cartoons as always. #BigPinkLink
Hi jo, thanks for reading and yr kind words, all the best, jo
This made me giggle! Thanks for linking up with #bigpinklink H x
Glad it made you laugh! #bigpinklink x
I love what your son was actually trying to say! Also love your cartoons and the last line! #KCACOLS
Thanks lovely! #KCACOLS
This is very interesting. I’d never thought much about the psychopath/sociopath distinction. Love the cartoons. #kcacols
Can I refer you to Silly Mummy’s knowledgeable comment above? I think she knows alot more about all this than me. Glad you like the cartoons too xJo #KCACOLS
Well I had a pretty rocky relationship with my father growing up, although I love him dearly now and I don’t have any opinion about Trump to be honest other than the fact that he is definitely not qualified to be president! I am apparently also a Psycopath!! #KCACOLS
Well done you for smoothing over a tricky relationship with your Dad. Haha re the psychopath comment. I somehow don’t think there are many of us bloggers who are though. Especially on the parent blogging sites – too much empathy such as writing comments like these! jo x #KCACOLS
As someone who has learnt many languages, you talk about what you know how to say, whether it’s true or not….ha! #KCACOLS
Well i only have two languages and learning three others – never enough! That’s blogging for you #KCACOLS
Great post I love your drawings! They are brilliant! I reckon Trump will resign, whether that be unofficially hiding while others take the brunt of the work or publicly (not sure he’s allowed to publicly?) but I don’t think he will hold sway for long. Loved this post, thanks for linking up to #KCACOLS
I agree. Not a betting woman but can’t see him lasting another 2 months. He’ll either resign ahead of Russian realisation he’s gone off message when the honey trap photos will nudge him back to Mar-a-Lago full time. There must also be plots aplenty to unseat/impeach him on grounds of being completely nuts not to mention being a humour-free zone which we really aren’t impressed with at Heir Raising. #KCACOLS
hahah I completely understand your reaction to what you thought your son had written, how funny that it was actually innocent! #KCACOLS
I’m beginning to wonder how innocent it all is! Have just come back from a half term break with his cousin and two other boys. Hmmm what a load of swearing and it wasn’t just me. German is a great language to swear in though – feels very satisfying #KCACOLS
Not sure if it’s dodgy internet but my post above is showing as blank! So I’ll re comment but please do delete if this is a repeat!
hahah I completely understand your reaction to what you thought your son had written, how funny that it was actually innocent! #KCACOLS
Great! Two comments for the price of one. Or vice versa. Thanks for commenting Zoe. Jo x #KCACOLS