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The word kleptomania means 'a recurrent urge to steal'. But is there a word for people who hoard?
I'm thinking of that tendency that ranges from simply being incapable of throwing out old jam jars (despite already having 60 or so cluttering up the pantry) to that lost soul whose front yard, living room, porch, hallway, and bedroom are piled up with old bicycles, lawn mowers, broken pushchairs, empty paint tins, bales of newspaper, etc., and still they scour the streets with an old supermarket trolley, rifling through other people's trash in search of more junk.
Last edited by Hydra; 05/27/2007 7:30 AM.
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there is (in US, perhaps elsewhere) the idiom "to be like the Collyer' brothers" or (to be)a Collyer's brother. see this(also spelled (obviously incorrectly, collier's brothers) (for messy ofterstuffed closets, see "fibber McGee" a radio show character.)
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Pooh-Bah
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Pack rat, magpie. Laverne and I are depression children as evident from our barn packed to the gills with largely useless or outmoded possessions. I often reflect on this burden to the children when we die. No. 1 Son had suggested dragging it all out into the South Forty and setting it afire; but even that would be a monumental task
dalehileman
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old hand
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The acknowledged term is messie . see http://www.messies.com/I've seen quite striking cases.
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I think a "messie" is something different. Maybe more from the "hoarding" perspective.
Having sorted through my Dad's collections, one thing is for sure, he was focused. He recycled. Although this life was too short for him to accomplish all the things he could keep in mind or plan for, he didn't just (or not) throw things out because they were old. He saved things because they had a use... he just had too many *uses.
His collections came from many different areas, but they were certainly collections. Not in the *usual catalogue-photograph-insure-cleanup-repair-assemble-showcase, but antique autos and motocycles (and parts) for specific years and models only, metal and wood working machinery, tools, projects, stock and literature.... electronics tools and equipment, projects and parts and literature... to match his skills in these fields. Collectable china, glass, porcelian and breweriana books and comicbooks notwithstanding... he had virtually every tool one could imagine for any fixit job one could *create. He was more of a "master of all trades than anything" and became known as the guy in the neighborhood who had the tool that you couldn't find or afford to buy. Of course he'd lend it to you with the only *stipulation that you use it correctly (which he'd proceed to explain or follow you to help) and return it... which explains a little about why he didn't finish doing for himself.
The "depression child" that Faldage speaks of comes from not having... learning the importance of not wasting as well as the importance of sharing what little you have with everyone throught all aspects of life. The overload of waste which consumerism brought to that mindset opened a hole between the haves and have-nots that was quite real in an upper-lowerclass neighborhood. He kept the Joneses up with each other, it seems.
BTW - After seven garages full of items and ten years of processing, maybe your son, Dale, should start now. I'm available for consultation. <wink>
peace
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Nice report, musick, it seems your dad lived (or lives) a fulfilling life. Congratulations, I hope that you as the nut fell not far from him the tree. That's a silly joke, musick, but I'll bet that your dad the tree would smile. 
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I have inherited my dads foible. One day I might use that valve from an old gas bottle. Just wait and see. Once a year we have what is known as an inorganic collection. householders are encouraged to dispose of all the unnnescsessary items around the house. at this time of year out come all the pick-up trucks and vans, it's amazing what some people discard. Bicycles with a flat tyre, Bookshelves, vacuum cleaners, you name it. Granted, most of it is rubbish but hey, one day! So there I was faced with the dillemma of having to throw out my hoardings of several years, holding onto not only my rubbish, but other peoples. I bit the bullet and I can now proudly say, my name is Olly, I was a hoarder!
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That was an interesting link, of troy. Linked to the Wiki article was an article by Fred Penzel, Ph.D of the Obsessive Compulsive Foundation about compulsive hoarding. I think that must be the "technical" definition. Compulsive hoarding is a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), a neurobiological condition, most likely genetically based. OCD comes in a wide variety of forms, of which hoarding is only one. Compulsive hoarders may collect only certain types of things, or they may indiscriminately save everything. We are not talking here about collecting things that are valuable or important such as art, coins, or stamps. Read more... Edit: And from this Wiki article on compulsive hoarding, "Hoarding rubbish may be referred to as syllogomania."
Last edited by Hydra; 05/28/2007 8:48 AM.
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...We are not talking here about collecting things that are valuable or important such as art, coins, or stamps....At what point would society bring it upon itself to place a dollar amount of "acceptable minimal value" so as to catagorize specific things as "ridiculously larger quantities than would ever be necessary"? Dog dibrof! "Supply siders" may have something to say about this... as if you couldn't have too much coin, stamps or artwork.  You need a lot of bottle caps to get a dollars worth of metal. The militaries seem to have a lot higher limit on.... well, at least nuclear weapons, for example. When does stockpiling become hoarding? When does collecting become stockpiling. When does having a lot become collecting? How much does one need to afford to share. Having enough makes me feel*rich.
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i have, for now, more time than money.
so i tend to recyle.
last night, i spent an hour or so, taking apart, and fixing (one crimped wire) a table fan that a neighbor had discarded.
I don't use air condisioning, so i like fans. did i NEED another? perhaps not.. but there will be hot days coming, and another fan is useful. and worth an hours effort.
many today throw out--the idea of investing an hour in repairing is never considered. My fan is sitting on a snack table that was discard because it was missing a single screw.
(on the other hand, when i moved 5 years ago, i got rid of lots of stuff.. i was the (proud?)owner of not one, but 2, pipe threaders! (and nowday most everyone uses copper tubing (not pipe) and 'sweat's' sodiers it together!) )
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Helen!! I went to your link, because I had never heard of the Collyer Bros., and there was the word disposophobia, which I just posted about!!
Repairing...is a lot more difficult now than it was, say 30 or more years ago. P'raps I should have said getting things repaired; though perhaps it is simply where I live that makes me think that. When I was a kid, my father would take things to the shoe-repair shop, for ex., or to the electronics-repair shop. Do such things exist any more, where you all live? If there are any in my town any more (the ones my dad went to are long gone), they are all the way across town, where the cost of transport plus repair might very well surpass the cost of a new item. I would love to have my little alarm clock back to where the face will stay lit all night, and to have the old stereo turntable system working again (the radio still works, which is why we still have it). I guess I could take them to the big electronics chain store not too far away, but I've asked about repair charges...yikes. And a few years ago when I took our lawn trimmer in for repair, I was told flat out that buying a new one would be cheaper; in fact, this place has a sign posted to the effect that they will only repair the more costly kinds of trimmers. I suppose I could try looking up on-line how to do some of these things; but there are definitely many repairs I simply can't do.
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formerly known as etaoin...
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When I was a kid, my father would take things to the shoe-repair shop, for ex., or to the electronics-repair shop. I can remember when the TV went on the fritz, my dad would pull out all the vacuum tubes and take them to a convenience store like 7-11 or Circle K. There was a machine there with all the different sockets to match the tubes and you plugged each one in until it told you one was bad. Then you got a replacement from a cabinet underneath the machine. They also sold a kit of paired stickers so you could put a sticker on the tube and a sticker on the socket when you pulled it out so you'd know how to put your TV back together.
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In NYC, Myridon, that store was "LaFeyette's Electric" a small local chain.(they had at least 3 stores in NYC (bronx, queens, manhattan) i don't know how big the chain was.
it had a tube tester, and sold replacement tubes. (my childhood one was on Fordham road, at Arthur Avenue (yes, that Arthur Avenue.. Fordham road was a commercial street, the italian neighborhood started 1 block away at 187th Street.)
i, too, remember going there with vacuum tubes to test (i was the general assistant for home repairs when i was a kid.. my brother is much younger, and less interested. I always like taking things apart and figuring out how they worked.. (still do!)
there are still some appliance repair shops, (Sears runs one!)
but at Sears, you bring your failed tool or small appliance, and get a replacement one for about the same price as the credit they give you..
(so you can fix a used drill ($50min) or you trade in used drill for $25 credit--and buy a refurbished one for $27....
the credit is only good at the store/repair center, not at the main sears store. (my local one is is on rte 110 on LI) it a good way to get value out of a tool (my rotory tool comes with replacable bushings (a vital, easy to replace part of most electric motors)
a lot of stuff you can just take apart and fix, if you are willing to try.
like the fan. it cost me nothing.. i decided to invest 1 hour.
all i needed to fix it was:
a screwdriver (i have one that has interchange heads, so i don't have to have a large screwdrive and a small on, and a large philips head and a small one, it also has allans and 'star' tips.)
some heat shrink tubing
a wire cutter/striper
some matches (for heat shrink tubing)
some electrical tape.
hardly anything exotic.
if i can't fix with those tools, i give up.
a lot of times you can see a crimped wire, or a loose wire.
it's no harder than changing a light bulb most of the time.
Jackie, you clock radio most likely just needs a new bulb.
it might be hard to find one.. but taking the cover off the clock radio is likely just a few screws, and hardest part of replaceing the bulb is finding the replacement. (for that, i go to "Just Bulbs" (on Broadway, just below 23rd street) they just sell bulbs..but every sort!
i cutivate knowledge of repair shops.. i donate to, and shop from thrift stores too, (always did!) why pay full price when you don't have too.
looking round my living/dining room.
recycled chairs (oak and walnut!)
Recycled dining room table (oak venere)
recycled ikea shelves (ivor style)
recycled Pecan armoire style book case
in computer room, recycled rolling trolley for CPU, recycled desk chair (oak) recycled bookcases (bought used)
about half of the art work is images from expensive 'arty' calendars, in recycled frames (they used to be 'designated smoking/non smoking signs, but then NYC said NO Indoor smoking, so most of signs came down (and were discarded!) great set of matching frames!
Ok back to words.. In NYC this stuff (free, discarded but still useful street (or garbage shute room stuff) is called MONGO
MONGO is good stuff!
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one more word:
kipple
[coined by Philip K. Dick in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?]
the collection of useless bits of trash we wallow in; all the paper and junk that is not recycled; decaying entropic trash
hence, kippleization
the tendency of the universe towards decaying entropic trash
-joe (the garbologist) friday
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What does MONGO mean - is it an acronym or a made-up word?
I wish you lived on my street. I had three brothers and nine uncles .. so one way or another I never got a chance to learn to fix things. WhenI got married to Mister-I'll-Get-To-It-Later, I read directions in a USGPO Fix It Yourself manual and learned to refit a lamp socket and bascically re-wire it, unplug a drain' and a few other handy things. Thanks to The U.S. Government Printing Office publications I lost my fear of tackling "men's work" and have become handy but I bow to your expertise. As I said...wish you were in my neighborhood.
Last edited by wow; 05/29/2007 8:53 PM.
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i think its a made up word.. it means 'the stuff you find on the street and recycle (also recycling from the local dump)
free throw away stuff.
there is always plenty in manhattan, some times you find listings for good trash on Craig's list...
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