Doesn't The Sun Always Hit the Sky? Are You Just Stupid?

That is a really good Supergrass song, I've always thought it a little funny at times.

"'Yo, Dad... I'm... sitting in the sun with just my pants on, a treat for the locals...' For some reason this made me insanely proud."
-John Peel

I'm always fascinated by the random things that I’m proud of, for example: I'm quite proud of my mad media editing skills, but I'm rather shy about my morning program ("oh, it's just a shift, no big deal, you know,"). At the same time, I’m incessantly proud of my free meal competition (there’s still time to join for the ‘05 season!), but try to brush off praise.

Pride in general is such a strange thing.

The dictionary defines pride as follows:

pride n.

1) A sense of one's own proper dignity or value; self-respect.
2) Pleasure or satisfaction taken in an achievement, possession, or association: parental pride.
3) Arrogant or disdainful conduct or treatment; haughtiness.
4) A cause or source of pleasure or satisfaction; the best of a group or class: These soldiers were their country's pride.
5) The most successful or thriving condition; prime: the pride of youth.
6)An excessively high opinion of oneself; conceit.
7)Mettle or spirit in horses.
8) A company of lions. See Synonyms at flock.
9) A flamboyant or impressive group: a pride of acrobats.

Weird alternate definitions aside (number seven was new for me, had to think on that for a bit), the whole idea of getting pleasure from knowing that you did something good is bizarre. What could possibly be the biological advantage? Seriously, I have no clue.

Most modern societal adaptations are like that, no practical applications. A sociological theory I've always had a fancy for (the citation escapes me, but bear with me) states that societies tend to get more attractive the more advanced they are. The rationale behind this idea is that the more primitive a given society is, the more partners are chosen on capacity to enhance odds of survival (e.g. "can he kill those wild animals," or, "can she bear healthy children?"). The flipside is: the more advanced the more attractive as partners are chosen for more social reasons than practical (e.g. "do her interests match mine, or, "will he make my friends jealous?").

Obviously this is a gross (large and disgusting, thank you) generalization; being a hot cave-person probably had its benefits, as does being practical these days. But it's comparable levels of attractiveness and survival ability that are the point here.

-Thomas