Cat vacuuming
May. 19th, 2005 12:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
julesjonesAll right, for the benefit of those readers who do not hang out in rec.arts.sf.composition, or other places that use this bit of terminology, I repeat the explanation from the first time someone asked me this. :-)
***
From the rasfc FAQ:
Cat-vacuuming: An activity that pretends to be useful, but is actually
being done so that you can avoid writing.
The derivation is that when you're trying to avoid writing, all sorts of normally unwanted tasks suddenly become very appealing. It becomes vitally important to finish the housework that you normally cheerfully ignore. So you tidy the lounge, and then you vacuum it, and you think that the furniture is ever so covered in cat hairs, so you'd better vacuum that, and hey, we could save a step here and vacuum the cat itself, and get rid of all that loose fur that's come loose but hasn't been shed yet. And this will save time in the long run, because it means you won't need to vacuum *that* cat hair off the carpet and furniture tomorrow, because you've already vacuumed it off the cat. So it's *useful* work, because it means you'll have more time to write tomorrow...
***
We have an icon nowadays. You will see it on various LJs, including this post. You will also see it on lapel pins at cons, if you look closely, for lo, we are Sad Bastards (TM), and decided that it would be a most excellent recognition signal for that small social problem of recognising those you know well without having the faintest idea of their physical appearance.
***
From the rasfc FAQ:
Cat-vacuuming: An activity that pretends to be useful, but is actually
being done so that you can avoid writing.
The derivation is that when you're trying to avoid writing, all sorts of normally unwanted tasks suddenly become very appealing. It becomes vitally important to finish the housework that you normally cheerfully ignore. So you tidy the lounge, and then you vacuum it, and you think that the furniture is ever so covered in cat hairs, so you'd better vacuum that, and hey, we could save a step here and vacuum the cat itself, and get rid of all that loose fur that's come loose but hasn't been shed yet. And this will save time in the long run, because it means you won't need to vacuum *that* cat hair off the carpet and furniture tomorrow, because you've already vacuumed it off the cat. So it's *useful* work, because it means you'll have more time to write tomorrow...
***
We have an icon nowadays. You will see it on various LJs, including this post. You will also see it on lapel pins at cons, if you look closely, for lo, we are Sad Bastards (TM), and decided that it would be a most excellent recognition signal for that small social problem of recognising those you know well without having the faintest idea of their physical appearance.
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(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-19 01:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-05-19 01:45 pm (UTC)You'll see more rasfc ramblings when you read Spindrift, because the narrator is a writer (I needed a character with particular characteristics, and "writer" fitted nicely). When he starts talking about the problems of working from home - well, that was straight out of one of the perenial threads on rasfc. :-)
Cat-vacuuming
Date: 2005-05-19 02:32 pm (UTC)aka "displacement activity"
Date: 2005-05-19 04:12 pm (UTC)or, "when in doubt, wash" [a]
[a] - if you're a cat - or a hamster...
Re: aka "displacement activity"
Date: 2005-05-19 04:26 pm (UTC)Yes, it's displacement activity, but it's a very specific type of displacement activity. :-) I thought I'd better explain in a top level post, after having had several "?" responses from those who had not previously encountered this bit of rasfc argot.
And I'd better stop vacuuming the cat, and get on with 300 words for the day...
(no subject)
Date: 2009-10-26 11:34 pm (UTC)