Syndromes

Anecdote embroidery

Some need no explanation:

all hat and no cattle
anecdote embroidery
anecdote inflation
angry white male
anthropologist goes native
anti-feminist backlash
avoidable disaster

been there, done that
bite off more than you can chew
breast beating
bring your enemy into the open
build your own prison
burn bridges
buyer’s remorse

cling to a cross
conspicuous non-consumption
crisis cult
crocodile tears

denial
Devil’s advocate
do it the hard way
don’t know when to give up

educated beyond your understanding
elderly first-time father
Empty Nest
Enlightenment blaming

face-spiting nose removal
fear of being found in the wrong company
get half the message
give with one hand and take with the other
gold fever
Golden Aging

hair-splitting
hand waving
hand wringing
hand-forcing

inconspicuous consumption

last off the boat
late to the party
legitimate hate figures
live others’ lives for them

make a rod for your own back
make-work
making the possible impossible
marginal becomes mainstream
marriage o’clock
melt away
misguided name change
more English than the English
multiple aliases

need rescuing from self
non-existent problem-solving
normalising
nose-limited vision
Not Invented Here

one false move
other-oriented perfectionism
overstay your welcome
own worst enemy

persecutor becomes convert
Peter Pan
post-nuptial depression

saw off the branch you’re sitting on
self-defeating
self-sabotage
self-stigmatisation
shouldn’t have started
stage mother
street angel, house devil

taken under X’s wing
talk a good game
talk up
talks the talk, can’t walk the walk
tennis father
throw boulders in someone’s path
too good for the working classes
turn on the charm

victim of its own success


Some need a bit of explanation:

acte manquée (self-sabotage)
alibi explanation (one that absolves from all blame)

bridesmaid humiliation (chorus line in ugly matching dresses)

defeatism, parade-raining, balloon-bursting ("There's no point studying history because nothing ever happens the same way twice.")

false flag, black flag – conspiracy strategies
front group hides revolutionary elite (invented by the original Illuminati in the 18th cent)

homesick without leaving home (because everybody’s left)

kidology (“I love the way you’re doing X!”)

lipservice (also box-ticking and genuflecting)

mutate to survive (keep changing your story and hope nobody notices)

need rescuing from fans/family/relationship/marriage/“friends”

transferred guilt inducement (on behalf of a third party or group)

Venice Syndrome: cities hollowed out by unoccupied apartments. (@JonathanFoyle)

waiting for a generation to retire (or die) before we can pass liberal laws, update the style book, or close down the courses that teach students to write “modern” music