Embarrassment

The Caught

Social exposure with no moral weight. The self caught mid-error, in front of someone, where nothing wrong was done and something was still revealed. Embarrassment is the only self-conscious state that needs an audience. Remove the observers and it stops.

The word

From French embarrasser, to hamper, usually traced through Spanish and Portuguese to baraço, a cord or halter: to embarrass was to entangle, to block. The financial sense, embarrassed meaning short of funds, keeps the old obstruction. The feeling took the word over only in the modern era.

The feeling

Sudden heat in the face, and the immediate wish to be smaller. Time goes granular; the room's attention feels like a physical pressure even when no one is actually looking. Nothing wrong was done, which the mind knows and the blush ignores. It burns hot and short, and an hour later it is usually material for a story.

Against its neighbours

Shame concerns what one is and can last for years; embarrassment concerns a moment of exposure and rarely survives the week. Guilt requires a wrong; embarrassment needs only a witness.

In the work

The moment is wrong, not the act. A posture is caught that was never meant to be held, and the frame arrives before the body has finished arranging itself.

No work carries Embarrassment yet. The element is named and the table is not finished.

These prints carry its family.

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Also in Self-conscious

Where Embarrassment sits Em · SELF-CONSCIOUS FAMILY

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1IgFervour 2EcEcstasy 3TnTension 5PrPower 6NtAnticipation 9SgSurrender 7TmTranscendence 8AcAscendance 10DrDread 4FrFear 11SuSublimity 12AwAwe 13WnWonder 14EnEntrancement 15AeAesthetic Pleasure 16CrCraving 17EvEnvy 18EpEmpathic Pain 25VdVoid 24DcDecay 21RnRuin 22GrGrief 26NsNostalgia 23SdSadness 27MxMelancholy 28CtTenderness 19AdAdmiration 20JoJoy 32DtDevotion 34LoLonging 36SlSolitude 37StStillness 33RtRelief 30GtGratitude 38SfSatisfaction 31HsHope 39CmCalm 35WcContempt 29AnAnger 47EmEmbarrassment 44DxDisgust 43AxAnxiety 45SmShame 46GlGuilt 40SpSurprise 49CnConfusion 41InInterest 42TsTrust 48EqEquanimity 50BrBoredom 55RgRegret 57NzNumbness 52LnLoneliness 58AqAwe-Quiet 60DzDetachment 59PcPeace 53WtWeariness 54RsResignation 56PdPride 61LvLove 51CgCourage 62SaSaudade 63HrHiraeth 64MnMono no Aware 65ShSehnsucht 66YbYaaburnee 67DvDépaysement 68NmNuminous 69ApApophenia 70KyKoyaanisqatsi 71AbAbject 72WsWonder-Sacred 73DuDuende 74PtPresence 75WbWabi-Sabi ? ? ? ? ?

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