Most people like being seen overwhelmed. Being swept by feeling or emotions, in the exaggerated sense, is seen as a quick way of being part of the ‘in crowd’. Thus nearly everyone’s descriptions of things or experiences as ‘the best’, ‘the smartest’, and visiting the temples of ‘Top 10’ lists. Being underwhelmed – unimpressed – is a more niche strategy, used by the ‘stand out’ crowd. They want to be seen underwhelmed as a differentiator between the mob that is all too ready to be bowled over by the latest fad and flash of the month. So, is there a state of being ‘whelmed’? More importantly, is there a cool quotient to showing this Goldilocks state where one is neither too impressed nor unimpressed, but gives the ‘just right’ response?
As irony would have it, the archaic English word ‘whelm’, from the Middle English ‘whelmen’ meaning ‘to capsize’ or ‘turn over’, means overwhelm. So, to be whelmed itself means to be overwhelmed. But, over time, people not happy enough to showcase their enthusiasm or appreciation for something merely being ‘whelmed’, added an ‘over’ – a prime example of our hyperbolic culture. So, between the value of showing being over-, under- and ‘plain’ whelmed, being underwhelmed must be recognised as an aristocratic gesture, one the mob will find strange, and, in due time, view with awe when the Age of OTT subsides.
