Comments on: His brain is not involved

By: Quoted: Holly on Interpretation of Culture at Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:00:23 +0000

[...] it’s similar to the concept of “hubris,” but without the divine element. There’s actually a pretty good discussion here, with examples from different cultures. The “tall poppy” of New Zealand, the “high trees catch [...]

By: Alex Harrowell

Alex Harrowell — Mon, 25 May 2009 21:54:14 +0000

I always imagined the loose cannon to suggest irresponsibility. Whereas the nail is hammered down just because it sticks out.

Of course, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

By: Charlie

Charlie — Mon, 25 May 2009 17:01:51 +0000

All in all, it looks as though we need some help from a real Japanese person. Anyone?

By: Charlie

Charlie — Mon, 25 May 2009 16:54:43 +0000

Saying that somebody is a loose cannon is much less neutral. A loose cannon aboard a ship is quite dangerous, a big heavy piece of metal rolling about can hurt you quite badly after all. A loose cannon then is somebody who can hurt their own side as badly as the enemy and doesn’t stop to think.

Sure, but then again, might you not also stub your toe a bit nasty on a nail that hasn’t been properly hammered down yet? And whereas a tall poppy might quite a nice thing to look at, a mere nail that just happens to stick out is clearly less than impressive. A bit more work needed there, many would say.

What about looking at things this way. With the hammer / nail saying, the balance of remedy to threat is skewed fairly heavily in the direction of the remedy (i.e. the hammer). With the loose cannon saying, the balance of remedy to threat is different; it seems as though the cannon might well win. I think this makes the loose cannon saying more oppressive, as rhetoric.

By: Chelseaboy

Chelseaboy — Mon, 25 May 2009 09:18:38 +0000

The two sayings are completely different. The nail being hammered down does indeed refer to normalising. However, the loose cannon is refering to volatility of personality, more than simply difference to the norm. I think you should revisit this and come up with a saying that actually means what you are looking for.

By: Martin Wisse

Martin Wisse — Mon, 25 May 2009 06:32:31 +0000

Saying that somebody is a loose cannon != saying that the nail that sticks out will be hammered down. As Duaneg mentions first, “tall poppy syndrome” is the quivalent of that Japanese saying (as is the Dutch saying quoted by Ron) as both complain of a cultural attitude that dislikes people who are “better” than the average. I’ll bet almost every culture/country in the world has an equivalent and when you ask them, almost every country will think it’s different elsewhere. The times I’ve heard it’s uniquely Dutch to hate succesful people…

By: Cyrus

Cyrus — Mon, 25 May 2009 03:13:15 +0000

I don’t see how the cannon expression is parallel at all: the loose cannon is unpredictable and presents a hazard to all nearby. There’s nothing in it that implies he’s accomplishing more than those around him.

By: el artista madridista

el artista madridista — Sat, 23 May 2009 15:56:47 +0000

In Spanish it could be “El que se mueve no sale en la foto”, apparently coined by one of the socialist party bosses some years ago.
It would translate to something like “If you move, you won´t be in the picture”, the picture being some of those self-congratulatory, group- photos politicians like to get taken when they feel they have done something important, to record the event for posterity. So basically, you either adhere to the party line or you´ll be excluded from the rewards (explicitly moral, but exclusion from more material benefits is also implicit) of politics. The threat of simple expulsion can also be inferred.

By: Charlie

Charlie — Sat, 23 May 2009 12:08:34 +0000

Also, I’m not so sure that I’ve gotten the impression that a “loose cannon” is somebody who gets “fixed” (practical necessity as though it may be in the literal sense).

Well, I think you may be right about that. It seems to me that part of the nuance of the saying is that it’s hard to restrain a cannon; the attempt might fail (or have already failed). Blades of grass, or nails that stick up; well, mowers and hammers usually win. Then again, simple avoidance is usually a pretty effective normalising technique.

By: dutchmarbel

dutchmarbel — Sat, 23 May 2009 08:37:01 +0000

In addition to Ron: we also have a saying ‘hoge bomen vangen veel wind’ (= high trees catch much wind), meaning that if you are very visible more people will talk about you/try to damage you.