The Adnostic

I while back I read a post on Defective Yeti called "Threat Level Bershon" about how the TSA's facial expression screening process would eliminate any teenage girl from ever flying. I laughed and ignored the Bershon reference because I didn't know what it was and the post was funny regardless.

Then I saw a picture on Flickr posted by Dooce about being "so Bershon." That piqued my interest. WTF was Bershon? I clicked on the Bershon pool and just would a bunch of old pictures of bloggers in their awkward teens or their miserable children who really wish she wasn't about to post something totally embarrassing on the Internet again. I knew there was a connection, but I wasn't bright enough to figure it out.

So I did what any good Internet geek would do, I asked Google. The Oracle of Google fed me this link from Que Sera Sera about how she solidified a friendship through the instinctive knowledge of a common phrase - "I am SO BERSHON!" This is her definition of Bershon:

I was unclear at first, but by using contextual clues and in conferring with Erin, we’ve determined that the spirit of bershon is pretty much how you feel when you’re 13 and your parents make you wear a Christmas sweatshirt and then pose for a family picture, and you could not possibly summon one more ounce of disgust, but you’re also way too cool to really even DEAL with it, so you just make this face like you smelled something bad and sort of roll your eyes and seethe in a put-out manner. Kelly Taylor from Beverly Hills, 90210 is the patron saint of bershon, as her face, like most other teenagers’, was permanently frozen in this expression.

Having been an awkward yet stubborn teenager I am painfully aware of this condition. My parents were agonized by this condition in not one, but two of their children. My sister, Leah, always an overachiever, developed a strong case of continuous Bershon by the age of nine and is still undergoing physical therapy to unwrinkle her nose.*

I'm sure my parents have plenty of Bershon pool worthy pictures, but too bad for you and lucky for me she is too inept with the computer to even know what Flickr is let alone have an account.

* Kidding..... sort of.