That’s one meaning of the word according to your source, and the least common of the three meanings it lists. The OED notes that this usage is both obsolete and rare. Regardless of the intended meaning of the word, however, the meaning of the phrase as a whole is extremely opaque.
And I wonder where anyone would have gotten the idea that you seem to write primarily in the interest of snark? Perhaps it’s not merely something that your readers are bringing to the table, but something that’s regularly on the menu.
People who don’t give a crap don’t bother posting “don’t give a crap” posts because it’s not worth the minimal fucking effort of typing things out when you really don’t give a crap.
There are many piggies eating out of this dumpster here, even us, in a way, by providing clicks and comments that make it still a thing.
But we really need to focus on the really, truly, offensive thing about all this: Having to hear that fucking awful Robin Thicke song everywhere I go. I can’t opt-out of the muzak system at CVS when I’m just trying to buy some soap and toothpaste!
I do think the article got one thing right. Sinead O’Connor is writing an open letter to her younger self. I think its why a lot of people feel concern for Miley, that we can remember being at this age and doing things without a lot of self-awareness of what was driving our behavior. I can remember dating (if you can even call it dating) a lot of jerks and losers and then crying that I was getting my heart broken. Step 1: Stop dating losers. Easy to figure that out in retrospect; and so painful to remember the angst and drama I felt while I was still incapable of figuring it out and getting my heart ripped out over and over again.
Those of us in the public can look back and think, “Oh, thank God I was not on a reality tv show and defined by THAT all my life.” " Thank Goodness I am not one of these little celebrity girls getting caught on camera with no underpants and remembered for that the rest of my life."
I think Sinead is saying the same thing to her, something that MC is just not self-aware enough to be reached by yet, but that maybe 10 years from now she will realize someone was reaching out to her and she batted the hand away - and shrink with shame a little once she is capable of feeling that.
What I mean is that Cyrus’s self-awareness is fleeting (it doesn’t go far), ostentatious (it is intentionally included in the media performance), and precocious (she was Hanna Montana, and is becoming something different). It seemed a more precise word suggesting all of the above, rather than the mere impermanence suggested by one like “transient” or “transitory”
I’m genuinely enjoying Miley and her antics right now.
I enjoyed Sinead and her antics back in the day.
I don’t enjoy Sinead or her (self-righteous, know-it-all, holier-than-thou) antics now.
I suspect I won’t enjoy Miley or her (TBD) antics someday in the future.
What this whole thing (starting from the awards show with the twerking and the tongue) underscores for me is how little of the “music industry” and its celebrities are actually about music.
More pompous than edgy, I think. Imagine me, steeple-fingered on a nice couch in a wood-paneled lounge, introduced by a lick of classical music. A fire gently clicking; whisky decanter out of focus in the background, that sort of thing.
That’s the snark you we love, expect, troll for, and sometimes demand. I prefer to imagine you in this pose and ambiance while reading comments, waiting to respond.
I didn’t have a moment’s digestion with this phrase. If you understand the context, it’s simple.
Fleeting, or transient, self-awareness is achievable only by those with shallow self-perception, and likely shallow perception of anything. Once you get a feel for the real human soul, you’re finished, transient-wise. You loiter and leer, you sob and regret, you laugh and smile.
Transient self-awareness is like seeing how awful you look as you stand on a walkolater after a red-eye. In the head-swirling atmosphere of a controlled busy environment, you might get a glimpse, but it’s hard to actually see and take an overview.
Cyrus is too young to understand much of the forces around her, too pumped and sexy to understand her choices aren’t purely her own, too arrogant to imagine that there are outcomes waiting for her that damage her, whatever they may be.
What’s her eulogy going to say? She’s not even fleetingly aware.
