Are you as turned off by whining as I am? Whining is very external locus of control and I’m an internal locus of control kind of gal.

If you whine to me, I cringe inwardly. If you share a complaint and ideas for improvement, I’m all ears.

Joseph Braun, Professor Emeritus at Illinois State University, apparently has some issues with whining, too. But he’s gone well beyond inward cringing and has elevated whining to an art form.

In his Scoring Guide for Whining, Braun proposes that whines can be scored on a 6-point scale, with consideration for purpose, audience, and quality. His scoring rubric includes such gems as:

The pitch of the whine oscillated through the entire frequency range, beyond human hearing, causing neighborhood dogs to howl. (Score=6)

The whine is little more than a whimper. (Score=1)

Pitch is high, like fingernails on a chalkboard. (Score =5)

While written with classroom use in mind, I can see immediate application in staff meetings and even at the dinner table. Where would you use it?

Print out your own copy to share with family and co-workers by clicking here.

Found via Delaney Kirk.

Conflict Zen® by Tammy Lenski is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Based on a work at ConfictZen.Lenski.com.