How To Be Weird...

“Hey diddle diddle,
The Cat and the Fiddle,
The Cow jump'd over the Moon,
The little dog laugh'd to see such Craft,
And the Fork ran away with the Spoon.”

[original version]

When you hear a nursery rhyme, you will often overlook something at first — they’re absolutely nuts. Seriously, they’re concerningly strange. Yet we accept them because they often rhyme. Our brains recognise the structure, the pattern underlying them. It gives us a sense of comfort and predictability. That, in turn, opens the door to be taken down an implausible path.

People accept structured absurdity.

This has been the tactic employed by many famous creative and downright weird people over the centuries. They give you just enough to still feel comfortable with the new and the unknown. It's akin to being given a map in a foreign land — we might not understand the language or the customs, but as long as we have the map in hand, we feel a sense of security and are more willing to explore.

If you want to be weird, give people enough normality to latch on to. Then, take them for a ride.