First, a pensive otter is someone who is a thought-full, analytical, periodically introspective person who has a playful streak that is exhibited by creative, artistic, and joyful endeavors. He/she will try to talk you into something (or make it attractive to you) — usually after having given it much thought and consideration.
Where does the term Pensive Otter come from?
In the William Marston model of personality (DISC), the I stands for Inducer. For me, the I is the dominant characteristic of the four. Gary Smalley and John Trent took Marston’s model and applied animal representations to evoke each of the DISC characteristics. The otter is their representation for I. Hence, an otter. (For the curious, they picked the Lion to represent the D (dominance), the Beaver for the S (steadiness), and the Golden Retriever for the C (compliance).)
And the Pensive? This comes from the classical view of temperament (or humours). They were, of course, melancholic, sanguine, phlegmatic, and choleric. Each of these humours had characteristics associated with them. They were:
- melancholic – gloomy, pensive
- sanguine – headstrong, passionate
- phlegmatic – unemotional, passive
- choleric – bad-tempered, angry
In temperament studies, I come out as a melancholic.
Hence, we have an incongruous juxtaposition of a playful otter with a gloomy, pensive, thinking individual.
I think it’s better than a Melancholy Jester, which is also incongruous. (By the way, if I use words that you are unfamiliar with, may I suggest Wikipedia, Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, and/or several other online reference works. If you use Firefox as your browser (and you should for security reasons) you can have them in a search bar for convenience… just cut and paste the word in question into the bar…. BUT, open a new tab for the search so you don’t lose your place in these posts.)
Of course, the Melancholy Jester is not a new idea. It has been a theme in art and literature for hundreds of years. So, if I were to take on that “euphonious appellation” (to quote W. C. Fields) it would just be doing what others have done before.
But how many Pensive Otters have you run across?
Besides me, I mean? 
Tags: disc, jester, marston, otter, pensive, smalley, temperament
