Average - typical, conforming and invisible

It seems a lot of us suffer from FOBA: the fear of being average. This being Wordly Explorations, I wondered if the word average itself was part of the problem.

In part 1 of Average, I explored how people use and misuse the concept of average from statistics. I started with the statistics meanings of average - a single number (score) to represent a group, and normal - a particular pattern of the spread of different numbers/scores of a population. Two useful concepts for specific uses.

However, while the word average retains the 'authority of maths' in everyday use, it slides to mean normal (as in not abnormal), mediocre, and moral. It is mis-used to mean normal as in 'how we should all be'. This can cause considerable grief. 

That explains some of the sloppy word use that sits behind FOBA.  

In this post, I am exploring how the word average, used to mean normal, ends up meaning boring… and there's more grief as well.

The many meanings of average

In everyday use, the word average seems to have no relationship to the statistical concept of a single number to represent a group. We equate it with a lot of words that refer to people, rather than numbers.

This diagram collated my dictionary searches of the everyday meanings of average: midpoint, normal, common, frequent, typical, mediocre, just satisfactory, conforming, ordinary, unremarkable. 

    

The meanings can be grouped roughly into two - normal and boring. 

The important conceptual shift to note as we explore these meanings is that average no longer refers to a number (or the group that number represents). It's come to refer to an individual - the ubiquitous 'average person', both 'normal' and 'boring'!

When average means typical - a dangerous place

I mentioned in part 1 that referring to the 'average person' is often used to disguise a moral position. The 'average person' is also a design and construction reference point. 

For example, the design of face masks is based on average facial measurements. This average is assumed to represent a typical human face, so it is assumed the 'standard' face masks should then fit most people. However, we know the very concept of an average means lots of variation. The staff of 50 people at a hospital may not include even one person with 'a typical face’ (with average facial measurements); concerningly then, the masks may not fit properly. This can prove fatal. 

Except… it's not even the average measurements of all human faces; it's the average measurements of some Caucasian male faces - known as Representative Man.

Best ever misuse of average to
mean typical. See the full toon at the 
wonderful SMBC

'Representative man' is a hypothetical person based on the average measurements of a small group, i.e. Caucasian men aged 25 to 30, who weigh 70kg, used in any number of 'standards' for design, manufacturing and health and safety applications. It ignores the normal variation of the human population both across the sexes and across regions of the world. The average (a number) is used to 'create' a typical person (a man), which is used in design and manufacturing to achieve a single 'standard' sizing. 

This moves an average of measurements of some aspect of (some) people, to the idea of an average - typical - person. 

If your measurements are not average, if you're not 'typical' (which many won't be in many attributes), it can be dangerous. For example, a female police officer removed her ill-fitting and restrictive bullet-proof 'standard issue' vest (based on average Caucasian male torso measurements) in order to use some equipment and died of gunshot wounds as a result. 

The meaning shift is subtle but powerful. It takes the abstract statistical concept of 'a single number (the average) to represent the whole group for comparisons', and uses it to create a more concrete image of a 'typical' individual person to represent the whole group for practical applications. To typify what members of the group are. 

While 'representative man' might be reasonable in limited aspects of design and construction, the concept of the typical person should be used with extreme caution. If you think about it, it is a bit loopy.  

The use of average (a number) to mean typical (an individual) opens the door for all sorts of strange ideas about the 'average person.'

Average as conforming, habitual, usual, unthinking, compliant 

Not just your average pineapple!

As I explored in part 1, the idea of the 'average person' is sometimes used to hide the use of normal to imply a moral standard. I gave examples like, 'The average person doesn't want to see smut on TV'; 'The average person doesn't engage in politics'; 'The average person likes to eat meat'.

The flip side of this involves describing the 'average person' as someone who conforms without thought to the moral or social standard. It's the reverse: the 'average person' is terribly conforming, compliant, unthinking.

And then who wants to be average? Who wants to be normal? Only unthinking and compliant people who prefer to be told what to think and don't want anything to upset their narrow existence. Here's one example (of many):

"Average, the great lie that has the masses confined to a life of mediocrity and conformity. Living like slaves, their minds confined to a prison of their own making, and too afraid to step out of the bubble of the comfort zone to chase their dreams."

It gives us the image of the 'average person' as the dreaded 'sheeple'. And don't we like to hate them. Check out the Housemartins' song,  Sheep: they've never questioned anything, they never disagree... It's sheep we're up against.

They do come in handy, the 'average person'; it's very satisfying to criticise their conformity and compliance; they are the reason society has so many problems.  Right?

I wonder just who they are though? 

Average and normal as ordinary, bland and uninteresting

The ubiquitous 'average, normal, typical, conforming person' might be a handy reference point for criticism, but they really don't have much to offer anyone else. 

They are terribly ordinary, bland and uninteresting. Here's another example:

"The average person is bored, upset, annoyed, or even all three. If you want to be above average, then force yourself to be ecstatic about life!" 

That's why someone can ask in all seriousness (and get serious responses) on Quora: 'Why do normal people feel so boring to me?' 

Normal as comfortable but uninteresting

It's common to describe people as average and normal to put them down. As people who want comfort over life. Who are not fully alive.

You can find any number of sites and blogs telling you how to avoid being average, how not to be ordinary, how to break out of being normal. Surely you don't want to be bland and boring?  

They will tell you to Act Crazy, Hop off the bandwagon, Learn to Improvise, and more.

Except, I'm not quite sure how to follow #6 on this page: 'Be You'. What if you just happen to be average... as a sizable proportion of the population has to be, statistically speaking. 'Being You' more than likely means being average! 

The 'average person' and the 'normal person' used in this way implies that a person is clinging to their safe perch in the middle of the bell curve. Doing their best to be ordinary, striving to be average and typical, desperate to be normal. Afraid of doing anything else and risking being uncomfortable. 

Clutching onto their averageness by being completely ordinary, bland and uninteresting. 

And very, very boring.

Average as unremarkable, one of the crowd and invisible

Source

Taylor Swift doesn't just have a 'fear of being average', she is intimidated by it.  

I can't know for sure, but I think TayTay means she is afraid of being invisible. 

From the concept of average used to mean normal and typical (representative), and the 'average person' as conforming and uninteresting, it easily slides to average meaning one of the crowd, unnoticeable, unremarkable. And therefore invisible.

The desire to stand out, to be noticed, does seems a strong factor in FOBA. 

The obsession with celebrity - even talentless celebrity - highlights the strong pull of the idea of standing out. Of not being one of the crowd. Of avoiding being average.  Because: 

"There is nothing attractive or desirable about being average."

Another example is the plethora of unusual or contrived names for babies, like sweet little Epponnee-Rae, intended to ensure your child will stand out, for better or worse.

The wonderful Kath and Kim came up with the name: Epponnee Raeleen Charlene Kathleen Darleen Craig

Because no-one wants to be that 'average person', that person who is invisible.

Mmm, maybe the invisibility of the 'average person' explains why you never actually meet one.

Seems to me, when average means invisible, it touches on our fear of death. Maybe FOBA is just another face of our shared fear of mortality and of the scary idea that someday, you will no longer exist.  

Average as so much sameness - it's all so boring

Source

Over these two posts, I have explored average the statistical concept being used to mean normal (as in not abnormal), common, mediocre, normal (as in moral), typical, compliant, ordinary, and now unremarkable and invisible. Like everyone else:

"Living the average life everyone else does." 

So, with this range of meanings, none of wants to be considered average. To be average means being the same as everyone else. Whoever they are, those 'average people', they sure are boring. Luckily, the rest of us are definitely individuals.  

What a strange meaning journey the word average has taken, from a technical concept derived from the idea that everyone is different, to meaning that average equals being normal and that means being just the same as everyone else. 

Which is all so very boring. 

There is no average person 

So, the 'average person' sure cops a lot of criticism; I’ve been wondering if I have met them or, concerningly, could I be that person? 

Hang on, how can a person be average? An average can only be generated for aspects you can measure about people (height, test achievement, number of children, etc.; see part 1 for a recap). The average represents the whole group's characteristics, not the individual's person.

The average is a number that represents one aspect of a specific group (the average height of women, the average science test scores in middle school, etc.) for a particular purpose. If by some chance you happen to have average height, for example, that doesn't make you an average person. See the difference?  

Source 

But it goes further. It's not just that you can't be average; there can be no such thing as an 'average person'. 

Person is a category made up of two (or more if you prefer) categories of men and women - which is not something you can measure or calculate an average for. In the same way, there is no average man or average woman - 'man' and 'woman' are categories, not measurements. 

A person is a discrete thing; the concept of average cannot be applied to things or categories, and definitely not a person. 

Source

Sure, there is an average height, IQ, age (whatever was measured, in a specific population), etc, etc, but no average person, man or woman.  

Yet we continue to hear comments like 'what does the average person want in life?' as though there was such a person about whom you could begin to speculate. And the question: 'how does the average woman spend her day?' is a ludicrous question.  

Put another way to show just how ludicrous this is: 

"What does the abstract representative number produced as an artefact of measurement and statistics want in life?"

This SMH article summarises the ideas and challenges of the 'average Australian': By the numbers - the average Australian doesn't exist.

Yet, we read and talk about the non-existent 'average person' all the time.

We really should just stop. 

A cure for FOBA?

So, there is NO average person - you won't be able to find one. You're not one. Your neighbour is not one.

A statistical average can be calculated by anyone about anything that varies along a measurement, but it doesn’t necessarily mean anything for you and me. The statistics are often sloppy and the purpose of deducing and shouting about the average might be quite dubious. 

However, most of us tend to accept as valid any average we read, and interpret it to mean normal, morally appropriate or typical and judge ourselves according to this. Alternatively, we judge all those 'average people' for being so ordinary, compliant and unremarkable. 

It's not meaningful to praise or revile or fear being the 'average person'. It's a sloppy and vague use of a concept to mean whatever you want, to avoid examining assumptions, or to hide what you are really afraid of. 

So, if you do experience FOBA, perhaps think about what you mean by the word average. 

The cure for your fear might be in the words. 

Images, used under Creative Commons License

• Woke up: snipped from social media, image references https://bossladiesmindset.com but not found
• Average meaning petal diagram: the author
• Average person SMBC: snip from cartoon at https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2015-02-02  No information regarding reproduction at source
• Conformity makes you average: Stephen Guise of Leadershipfreak https://leadershipfreak.blog/2020/09/21/four-things-you-have-that-others-dont-but-they-need/ [CC BY]
• Housemartins: Sheep https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIWOhisqrP8 
• Normality is a paved road: Drew: https://www.flickr.com/photos/skinnyartist/13851000935  [CC BY-NC]
• Taylor Swift quote: https://sayingimages.com/taylor-swift-quotes/  Used under terms
• Epponnee-Ray collage by the author from source video at National Sound and Film Archive https://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/curated/kylie-epponnee-rae-kath-and-kim
• Marilyn normal as boring: https://me.me/i/being-normal-is-boring-%3C3-56d156c6222047e8a248b13c3aa8363b Used under terms
• Just an average person: Meme central https://www.memecenter.com/fun/2153165/just-an-average-person-or-is-it  Used under terms 
• SMH quote: made by author