Are you "basic?"

[Ultralight]

Well for one, my username is HERB geek. (not the smoking kind, the culinary/medicinal type)

Which culinary ones do you grow?

[Ultralight]

I am thinking basic means ordinary. It's not the usual but I relish being ordinary these days.

I appreciate your self-assured attitude!

[herbgeek]

Which culinary ones do you grow?

Some years more than others. Currently for culinary: thyme (reg and lemon), parsley, sage, chives (reg and garlic), rosemary, marjoram, savory, basil, dill, cilantro, oregano, spearmint and a salad mint (thyme, sage also for medicine) For medicinal uses: nettles, chamomile, peppermint, calendula, elder, rose, jewelweed, lemon balm and comfrey (rose and jewelweed are wilds that I harvest, I don't explicitly plant them). I also grow a few medicinal plants that I don't make medicine from (because laziness): meadowsweet and betony.

[Alan]

Being a white male, certain segments of society have spent years trying to convince me that I'm privileged, and now you want me to be basic? Make up your mind dude!

[Ultralight]

Being a white male, certain segments of society have spent years trying to convince me that I'm privileged, and now you want me to be basic? Make up your mind dude!

Who do you think wants you to be basic?

[iris lilies]

Just because you are not here on Earth to entertain me does not mean you aren't entertaining me.

That is fine, take your entertainment wher and when you can get it.

[HappyHiker]

I equate "basic" with "simple." We always choose basic appliances, bought a plain-vanilla home that we decorated with finds from used furniture stores and consignment shops. It' really comfortable and cute.

We drive basic, older cars. One is a 2000 and the other is a 2005. They run fine.

By being basic, we've designed a life rich in possibilities. We have more money for "basic" travel...

We're basically quite delighted with our lives.

[iris lilies]

I equate "basic" with "simple." We always choose basic appliances, bought a plain-vanilla home that we decorated with finds from used furniture stores and consignment shops. It' really comfortable and cute.

We drive basic, older cars. One is a 2000 and the other is a 2005. They run fine.

By being basic, we've designed a life rich in possibilities. We have more money for "basic" travel...

We're basically quite delighted with our lives.

yep, me too. And like pinkytoe, I like to think of myself as simple and low maintenance.

[Teacher Terry]

HH: I loved how you reframed basic into something very positive!

[Gardenarian]

DD uses "basic" only to describe someone's personal style or aesthetic. She is 19; at that age most kids are trying to define themselves by their hair style, clothes, jewelry, piercings and tatoos, and choice of transportation.

To be "basic" is to conform to the norms so much that there is nothing striking about yourself. There is pressure NOT to conform, and it looks to me like they mostly non-conform in the same way - see how interesting I am because of my little tatoo, my chunky eyeglases, my vintage t-shirt. It's having a boho apartment and clothes that look like they came from Free People and liking somewhat obscure bands. Now you're not basic, right?

It makes me think of the Red Hat society. It started with a poem about being a singular old woman (When I am old i shall wear purple, with a red hat...Something like that) So all these women who wanted to show how unique and plucky they were got together and dressed in purple and wore red hats. Huh.

It's all based on the idea that appearance, how you present yourself, is deeply meaningful. I don't buy into that. I get that some folks like dressing up, okay. I don't think about style really at all. I'm probably not basic; an older woman with long hair in pigtails flying around town in a neon vest on her electric bike - but it's just practicality, not style.