Eat, Pray, Love is a book that, like most books, some people adore and some people hate. I haven’t read more than one page, so I can’t say which side I’m on. But the words on that one page have stuck with me a long time.
On the page in question, author Elizabeth Gilbert (who in the book chronicles her post-divorce world travels and consequent personal growth) discusses a compelling idea about personal identity. It’s a friend of hers who brings it up, actually, someone she’s having lunch with in Rome. The gist of the idea is this:
“Every city has a single word that defines it, that identifies most people who live there. If you could read people’s thoughts as they were passing you on the streets of any given place, you would discover that most of them are thinking the same thought. Whatever that majority thought might be—that is the word of the city.”
She goes on to posit that Rome’s word is “Sex,” and the Vatican’s word is “Power.” Stockholm’s word is “Conform.” New York’s word is “Achieve,” whereas Los Angeles’s word is “Succeed” (an interesting and I think accurate distinction). The friends take the concept further, suggesting that in addition to every city having a single word that drives it, every person has a single word driving him or her too, “and if your personal word does not match the word of the city, then you don’t really belong there.”
The idea of reducing your entire being down to one word is a ridiculous simplification, of course, but as an intellectual exercise, it’s kinda fun. Is there one word that accounts for all the decisions you’ve made, goals you’ve set, and paths you’ve taken? One word that remains true for your entire life? Gilbert realizes her travels have been, in a sense, a quest to discover her word. If your own word is eluding you, is there something (like solo travel) you could do to figure it out? Also: what is your city’s word? And is it compatible with your personal word? Or do you need to move? Do tell.
Grease is the word. It’s got groove, it’s got meaning.
I dunno about my word (maybe something like ‘diversify’ or ‘catalogue’). But I do wonder what word people would pick to encapsulate the spirit of Melbourne (au). I’d say ‘eclectic’, which is a word I identify with, but I don’t think that’s a word people think, or the motivation of most individuals here, it’s more the collective effect of those individuals. I have no idea what our collective ‘drive’ would be. Australians’ word might be to ‘veg’ or chillax. Or maybe not.
I think your comments would make an interesting writing assignments for students!
My word: Growth.
The word for Crescent City, CA (USA): Politics (as in big fish, little pond).
I like this idea a lot, and after a quick google- it makes me want to pick up that book.
I don’t know what word drives me. I’m a little too helter skelter to really stay on one path for very long, but words like spontaneous or irreverent are too harsh. I’m not spontaneous because I’m too fond of planing ahead and though my sense of humor can be irreverent… that doesn’t identify me as a whole.
I was thinking about Boston, though. “Learn” comes to mind, but it’s hard to say that encompasses the entire city. Maybe it does? People don’t come here to if they want to act, go into business- we don’t even have a big and booming art scene. There are other cities that appeal to those sorts of people… but Boston? I think people just come here to Learn. We’re a bit of a college town. kind of. to say the least.
I don’t know, though. It’s hard to pin down one word to describe anything. Some seem to fit, but once you apply them they don’t feel quite whole.
It’s hard to say if I really have only one word.
Mine is a combination or a fluctuation between create and finish.
I do believe that Houston’s word would be something along the lines of reinvent.
And I think mine is probably the same.
My word would be “hyper-excellent-driven”.
Atlanta’s word would be “Grow”.
I really liked this book, although I found the section on Rome to be the most interesting (which is funny, as I’ve always loved India). I think it’s harder to talk about meditation than most things.
Anyhow, I loved the thing about words. I think my word is “wonder” (as in creating wonder), but I live in Brooklyn, whose word/phrase might be something like “Keep on keeping on.” Maybe San Francisco is Wonder? Anyone?
My first reaction was that ‘achieve’ might well be my word – and oddly, I quite like the idea of living in New York in a way that LA doesn’t match.
However, the word ’strive’ then flitting across my brain and I think that’s me: I’m constantly trying to do something, whether that’s a goal or just surviving. Hmm.
I have no idea what my city (Edinburgh) would be in a word. Would be interesting to find out, though!
Stockholm’s word would surely be “lagom”, rather than “conform”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagom
My word would be “next”.
This is exactly what I expected to find out after reading the title o.us poetry. Thanks for informative article
One word is certainly too little. Anything I think of comes out too ideal or too out of reach or basically anything that I _don’t_ currently live by. What I _wish_ I could live by is “create”.
Tel Aviv: “elsewhere” (I’ve noticed that most Tel Avivians would rather live in another country).