I had dinner Wednesday night with my childhood friend and her new hubby. They followed an ideal path to marriage, meaning they bypassed all the usual consumerist hoopla. They decided to marry, had a small family-only wedding a month later, done. Short, sweet, and simple. Not that I hated my wedding or anything… I was really pleased with how it all turned out, but it was a lot of stress.

Anyway, we had a nice dinner. Her hubby is a cognitive psychology professor who studies decision-making. I know, I was immediately intrigued: if he studies the process of making decisions, he must be uber decisive, right? How great is that? But when I asked, he said something about being rational. I exclaimed that I am both decisive and rational (I know, I’m so modest), and then he countered that actually, the qualities are opposites. Say what? Technically, you can’t be both decisive and rational. I was totally perplexed but didn’t necessarily want to harp on the details… I would research this further once I got home. So my conclusion is that the common definition of decisiveness is different from the scientific decision. Scientifically, being decisive means selecting/choosing swiftly, almost intuitively, without pause. In the day to day, I consider someone decisive if she’s able to make a decision after reviewing her options. I’m probably butchering the subject matter here (I liken it to my computer-illiterate neighbors referring to desktop icons as “picture squares” or something). Duh, get with the program right?

Anyway, I always have interesting discussions with my friend. Like years ago, she shared her outrage with Alanis Morrisette’s song Ironic. She, and many others, insisted that the instances were not ironic. I suppose a few are not technically correct, but hell, most all of them? Sure seem close enough for a dumbo like me (I certainly wouldn’t go so far as to label Alanis “Mrs. Malapropism”). Then again, I’m not an English major either. Shrug.