Normal is a misnomer. To be normal you need to have a consensus of people who agree on the ideal. That makes it completely subjective and therefore a wasted pursuit.

Here in southern Maryland it's "normal" to call your pickup truck a "pickum-up truck" and to have an outsized replica of male body parts dangling from the rear bumper. I refuse to do that, so I'm not normal. And yes, your statement about clothing applies, too. I've never adopted the southern Maryland style of wearing six tee-shirts with progressively larger necklines and packs of cigarettes stuffed into your armpits.

Perhaps, the meaning of normal as typical contains the normative meaning because of the purely empirical fact that people generally behave as they ought to.
So instead of saying "behave as you ought to" we can say "behave as most people do" (i.e. be normal) because most people do behave OK.
If people didn't generally behave as they should, then normal simply wouldn't have a normative meaning.

What is normality? A normal person is whoever conforms to a paradigm that is accepted by most of people . But it is not true that most of people are normal, so the one who strives to be normal follows a wrong way, the way of the majority. It seems that they are like sheep and no one of them goes out of the flock. So I think the concept of normality has to be searched inside oneself, so that it is normal a person who follows its own way.
The book I have recently written deepens many psychological issues. I want to draw it to your attention, as you may be interested in it. The title is ?Travels of the Mind? and it is available at http://www.strategicpublishinggroup.com/title/TravelsOfTheMind.html
If you have any questions, I am most willing to offer my views on this topic.
Ettore Grillo

I knew I was going to enjoy this article just from the title. I get so tired of useless labels. I know that people do exist of a particular type but the minute I declare that I have something in common with the polka dot people, folks will extrapolate that I buy or endorse everything they stand for.

Normal is simply the average mean.
Be it good or bad right or wrong,
judgement or measure is uncertain at best.
=
MJA

"In the areas of physical and mental health, it is often a bit difficult to separate the average and typical side of being normal and the normative, meeting standards side.... Abnormal psychology deal with the different, the aberrant, the dysfuctional, people who are different than most of us, so surely not normal in that sense. So is that roughly the same as mental health?"
As your guest stated about the authority that surrounds definite normalcy, it is a dangerous route we would as a country to classify such disorders as normal psy-chosis, when in all fact it is totally circular. In this case, it is semantics, and as the one caller stat-ed, contextual, from which a new logical form must be applied to address this issue.
If one was to apply the Transcendental Logical form, or schema. One would see normalcy as a synthetic because face it the word normal is useful, and constantly being used in daily conversations.

As your guest stated about the authority that surrounds definite normalcy, it is a dangerous route we as a nation would travel in classifying, such disorders as "normal psychosis", etc., when in all fact it is totally circular. In this case, it is semantics, and as the one caller stated, contextual. So a new logical form must be applied to address this issue.
If one was to apply the Transcendental Logical form, or schema, one would see normalcy as a synthetic because face it, the word 'normal' is useful, and constantly being used in daily conversations.

Very informative post, agree normal is any form that we think and see that is not normal to us.

Wow loved reading all your ideas on normal!
To me, I feel that screew everybody and in this case the "norm" and live your life the way you feel comfortable. Don't conform to the majority as we will all become puppets in a game of reulation, stand up and have your own voice, and dammit be pround!

Normalcy is subjective. There are certain standards that society sets, and those who reside outside the standards are deemed "abnormal".
Don't bother with what is normal or what isn't; be yourself.
"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind."

YAWN. If you do not have a sense of normalcy, then what do you rely upon? Your own abjectivity? If you/we choose to be your/ourselve(s), to the exclusion of others, what do we become---let's see: anarchist comes to mind---lots of movies about that sorry state---all hopeless and pointless. Ending with, well: nothingness.
Sure. Don't bother with what is normal. Be yourself. Kill people. Do all manner of nasty things. Mind over matter. Go right ahead. And the next time you walk out in front of my car, talking on your cellphone and not looking in either direction, you may be dead for your inattentiveness. I might go to jail. But you will be dead.Or, hurt badly because I chose to brake rather than run you down as you deserved.
I am really tired of popular culture, and people on cellphones who believe they are somehow immune to criticism or harm. Who created this? Guess who.
YAWN.

Physical and mental health is both same important.A normal person is whoever conforms to a paradigm that is accepted by most of people . But it is not true that most of people are normal, so the one who strives to be normal follows a wrong way, the way of the majority.I know some idea about normal and abnormal stage of your post.I appreciate this informative post.