And, no, I do not want “innocent, prim & proper virgin” as an answer here. For one thing it’s too long. (G)
Here’s the deal. I’m working on a blog entry about opposites in romance and realized that I need a better term opposite loner. Currently, I have “leader” vs. “loner” and it just doesn’t work for me. Well, it does but it’s not nearly as good a pairing as, say, “lover” vs. “thinker”. And, yes, I know how to use a thesaurus but for some reason that’s not helping at all.
Oh, and one other thing, it has to be gender neutral, meaning that it can apply to either a male or a female character. So, put on your thinking hats and help me out here.
This is so weird. Why is it so hard to come up with this term? (G)
Actually, I agree that it should be “socializer” at least in principle. It’s just in practice that it becomes awkward to use but I’ll give it a try.
And yeah, my first thought was social butterfly too but that’s definitely way to feminine sounding for what I want. (G)
“Social butterfly” is what comes to my mind.
Loner is a negative word, anyway, isn’t it? I don’t agree with ‘extrovert’ because it’s a psychological term, rather than a social condition. I mean, anybody can be an introvert *and* extrovert at one stage of their lives, e.g. depression, happy moments, etc.
I’d go with Socialiser as the opposite of Loner.
I think an ability to socialise is almost always a feminine trait and a preference for solitary is almost always a masculine trait. It doesn’t necessarily have to do with gender, but to do with the dominating part of a person’s brain.
A man’s brain may have enough feminine traits to make him an excellent socialiser [and communicator] that people relate to him well, whereas a woman’s brain may make her behave like a ‘man’, e.g. driven, ambitious, decisive and authorative and other ‘leadership’ traits that are usually associated with men.
I’m waffling way, way off the track! I’m sorry! *sticks a timid hand up i the air* I vote for ‘Socialiser & Loner’. 😀
Well, I had considered something like socializer but it almost sounds negative. And female, for some reason.
I’ll have to think on extrovert. Hmmm.
I’d think social or extrovert.