“or, in the case of the introvert label I mentioned, we degrade them.”
That can be the case. However by coincidence I happened to work in that specific field most of my life. Categorizing personalities— as with all things in life— can be use positively or weaponized.
For example, we can label someone as a ‘workaholic’ in a good way or bad way— largely depending on how that affects his lifestyle or loved ones.
Categorizing people into general personality types (which is quite valid) can help in the employment field by placing them into jobs that match those personality types. You don’t want to put an extrovert behind a desk 8 hours a day; it will drive them nuts. Don’t put a conformist in a job that requires constant change.
Introvert isn’t necessarily a negative connotation. Introverts are very good at taking a back seat and observing, and documenting those observations. They’re often good at desk jobs, or at skilled jobs where they can work alone and “get the job done”. But put them out in the field doing cold call sales… not so good.
The psychiatric field consists largely of classifying personality types, not necessarily to “label” them, but to understand them. I know of one case where a couple took a “personality test”… and it saved their marriage when they came to actually realize who each other was— and that they’d been rubbing each other the wrong way for decades.
Labels— when used in a biased manner— are never good. When used as identification they can be quite positive. It’s why we label poison as poison and food as food.
I would suppose that different areas have different rules. My experience in the U.S. has always been that Monograms are First, Middle and Last initials. Of course this world is a little wacky, so no telling if there’s a “universal rule”… and I’m too apathetic to look it up on Wikipedia. ;D
It’s not “big boy” and it’s not “just a word”. It’s using an obscenity on a family comic site and it’s both unnecessary and immature.