Blogging blogging a childlike egocentrism, and with few exceptions, we know little about the bloggers that we read. Of course, most of us claim the what you see is what you get defense, but surely we do hide some facets of our personality from our audience.
My old drinking buddy, Bruce, once detailed his blogging personality for me, which made me ponder things. In person, his demeanor is quite soft-spoken, and as much as he is embarrassed when I mention this, he is quite polite and would do just about anything within his power for a friend. In his writings, however, he appears very abrasive at times. Perhaps the context of his blog facilitates this temporary personality, since his main subject of discussion is political and social commentary.
As to myself, Sadie exists as a mere part of the person behind her. Like every other blogger, this girl behind the girl is multifarious, and trust me, I'm only 25% interesting. Fortunately, most days that percentage shows through in the writing, so what I blog about is indeed truthful, yet amplified. For example - Sadie the Blogger is stunningly beautiful and can do quadratic equations in her head. Sadie the Person Sadie is pretty cute and vaguely remembers quadradic equations, but I can recite several jokes about them. Does that count?
How does your blogging persona differ from your reality-based self?
Posted by Sadie at February 28, 2006 04:07 PM | TrackBackHm. I swear more in real life, and I think I am much less outgoing in reality than I am in blogland. I often get a kick out of the way people perceive me to look, based upon my blog, but who am I to disappoint them? ;)
Posted by: Theresa at February 28, 2006 04:31 PMI'm way more obnoxious in real life land ;-)
Posted by: Oddybobo at February 28, 2006 04:35 PMReal life Robbo: "Well, ah, hmmm....I mean, well, I'm a little more self conscious and stuff, and, erm, really kind of boring....."
Robbo the Llama: "Sadie, tell us more about this 'girl behind the girl' thing."
Posted by: Robert the Llama Butcher at February 28, 2006 04:54 PMI'm SO much more obnoxious in blogland than in real life.
And Robbo the LLama, I'll see what I can do.
Posted by: Sadie at February 28, 2006 06:29 PMI swear less on my blog, and I am funnier and thinner.
Posted by: caltechgirl at February 28, 2006 06:56 PMMy blog persona swears a bit less, is less sarcastic and keeps his pants on more.
Posted by: phin at February 28, 2006 10:31 PMGenerally, the only time I talk like my blog persona in real life is when I'm fairly well drunk or have a major case of the flu -- otherwise, I'm usually a great deal less circumspectly verbose and a whole lot more economically taciturn.
Oh, and I curse *much* worse (and more often) in person, too...
Posted by: Rex Ferric at February 28, 2006 10:53 PMI'm more outgoing in my blog. Yep, these days the "real GroovyVic" is becoming more sedate. I'm actually boring in real life.
Posted by: GroovyVic at March 1, 2006 05:57 AM... actually, Sadie, you were pretty quiet when I met you... which struck me hard... you just kept taking notes for some reason...
.. and yes, I still worry about those notes from time to time....
Posted by: Eric at March 1, 2006 06:35 PMHeh. No worries, Eric. You were an upstanding citizen. ;-)
Posted by: Sadie at March 1, 2006 08:10 PM