The two kinds of people
Robert Benchley once wrote that there are two kinds of people in the world: those who believe that there are two kinds of people in the world, and those who do not.
Jim Svejda, a colleague in graduate school divided people into bunchers and folders. Jonathan Swift suggested that we could be either fools or knaves. There are creationists and evolutionists, early risers and night owls, Whigs and Tories, Guelphs and Ghibelenes, the quick and the dead.
Today is my birthday, and, feeling, frivolous, I’m inviting you to comment by adding to the categories of the two classes of people. I’ve given you a start; now you’re on your own.
Comments
I'm sorry this isn't original, but it's the first thing that came to mind.
There are 10 types of people in this world: those who understand binary arithmetic, and those who don't.
Posted by: Robin | February 10, 2009 11:20 AM
There are those who belive in love at first sight and those who do not.
Happy birthday and best wishes,
Patrick
Posted by: Patrick | February 10, 2009 11:21 AM
There are two kinds of people in the world: men and women.
Posted by: Frolic | February 10, 2009 11:35 AM
Oh, and before I forget: bonne anniversaire, mon chèr. You share a birthday with some interesting folk: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_10
and
http://www.imdb.com/OnThisDay?day=10&month=February
Posted by: Robin | February 10, 2009 11:45 AM
People who agree with me and idiots...
Posted by: jim in austin | February 10, 2009 11:48 AM
Wrong...there are three kinds of people: those who can count and those who can't.
Posted by: Bucky | February 10, 2009 12:05 PM
Happy Birthday. Those who think birthdays get less important the older you get, and over-fifties.
Posted by: John Ross | February 10, 2009 1:46 PM
My geography professor in college taught us that there were two kinds of geographers: Lumpers and Splitters.
Posted by: GeorgiaGirl | February 10, 2009 4:01 PM
Come on people, how hard is it to say Happy Birthday? Even if you're just a lurker it's not that difficult. Ask Laura Lee, she use to be on, and now she even declares her love for me.
We should hit a hundred and Bucky can start his Centennial Club, like over at D@L.
Happy Birthday.
Posted by: Robert (the Single One) | February 10, 2009 4:31 PM
From the poll taken in my neck of the woods:
-Montegues & Capulets
-those who get it & those who don't
-Mac's & PC's
- Northerners & Southerners (all countries)
- those who believe & those who behave
- those who dance & those who march
- nice & mean
- teachers & students
- those who give care & those who take care
- peace makers & peace keepers
Happy Birthday, John!
Posted by: Cherie | February 10, 2009 4:46 PM
My 5th grade teacher, Miss Mulhern, told us there were two kinds of students in her class: Smarties and Stupidies. And, no, I won't say how I was classified.
Posted by: Frank Roylance | February 10, 2009 5:27 PM
Happy birthday, Professor.
If you're like me, and I know I am, you're unique, just like everybody else.
Posted by: jl | February 10, 2009 5:41 PM
Happy, happy birthday!
The world is divided -- unevenly, I sometimes feel -- between people who are determined to take offense and people who aren't.
And yes, usage peevologists are a subset of the first category.
Posted by: Jan Freeman | February 10, 2009 6:14 PM
Happy birthday, John. What kind of Aquarian are you if you don't find anything interesting in dreams?
Maybe there are people who know how to tell them and people who don't.
Posted by: Penelope Phillips | February 10, 2009 6:59 PM
For me it's people I can count on and those I can't !!!!!
Posted by: Pasadena Paul | February 10, 2009 7:00 PM
In my theatrically embittered youth, I used to say there were two kinds of men: unavailable and undesirable.
Posted by: Nancy | February 10, 2009 8:50 PM
Those who can tolerate topic drift and those who can't.
Posted by: Laura Lee | February 10, 2009 9:31 PM
Black-and-whites and shades-of-grays.
Many happy returns!
Posted by: LisaMc | February 10, 2009 9:58 PM
Those who demand simple answers and those who accept the complexity of complex things.
Posted by: Mike Livingston | February 10, 2009 10:03 PM
I thought of another one (jl, you will want to pay attention here)...there are two kinds of motorcycle riders: those who have crashed and those that are going to.
Posted by: Bucky | February 10, 2009 10:24 PM
Cephalocaudalists and proximodistalists.
Posted by: Carl | February 10, 2009 10:25 PM
Those who read You Don't Say, and those who don't. Obviously.
Happy birthday from the Abbeville Manual of Style team!
Austin
Posted by: Austin | February 11, 2009 10:42 AM
There are two kinds of people in the world: Those who finish what they start and so forth.
Posted by: Brian Cubbison | February 11, 2009 10:51 AM
There are three kinds of things I like: Illegal, immoral, and fattening. At least it seems like that.
Happy belated birthday wishes, Professor.
Posted by: Retired in Elkridge | February 11, 2009 11:32 AM
According to the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/02/10/ST2009021002631.html)
"Food obsessives divide the world into two kinds of people: those who seek out truffles, sea urchin and single-estate chocolate, and those who don't."
Posted by: patricia | February 11, 2009 2:34 PM
There are two kinds of people: People who need closure.
Happy birthday, John.
Posted by: John Roach | February 11, 2009 2:41 PM
Happy birthday, Mr. McIntyre, sir.
There are two kinds of people in the world: those who have all the answers and those who wonder what the question is.
Posted by: Frank Moorman | February 11, 2009 5:01 PM
Happy birthday, mighty John!
There are those who send birthday wishes on time, and those who send them belatedly.
Posted by: other carol | February 11, 2009 7:22 PM
I once read a column about a toilet paper factory in which people were divided into crumplers and folders.
Posted by: Mark Dodge Medlin | February 12, 2009 1:54 AM
Two kinds of people? How about (as I've been known to say): "those who know they're insane and those who don't."
Posted by: Adrian Morgan | February 12, 2009 9:27 AM
Whoops - I'm late! I hope you had a lovely birthday!
Those who instinctively know the correct speed to drive on any given road (rarely the legal speed limit) and those who don't. I, of course, do.
Posted by: KristinB | February 12, 2009 10:31 AM
Happy belated birthday!
A dichotomy that actually helped me learn something about people was the classification, for purposes of personal organization, into filers and pilers. It explained, for example, why I so seldom can see the actual top of my desk ...
Posted by: mike | February 12, 2009 12:04 PM
Oy, here's to a belated happy happy.
Posted by: Joy-Mari | February 13, 2009 9:06 PM
At some point in the distant past a poem stuck in my memory which went, more or less:
Every child that's born into this world alive/ Is either a little Liberal or a little Conservative.
Happy 21st (plus whatever you are admitting to)
tim
Posted by: tim hamlett | February 18, 2009 5:49 AM