After reading this article by Melissa Dahl on The Cut, I realized that I may have had more friendship breakups than I thought. The concept of a "friendship breakup" never really occurred to me, and I've only encountered it now. But it's a deeply thought-provoking subject to explore.
I know about the act of "cutting ties" with people and this term "FO", short for "friendship over", which some people from my generation use similarly to say that they have cut ties with a friend of theirs. In these contexts, it is usually clearly apparent to both parties that the friendship has ended. So, in my mind, this is what pops up when I read "friendship breakup".
However, as I read further through this article, it became clear to me that there are cases when it's actually ambiguous. Those friendships which just fade away as you gradually drift apart from each other. It's the kind of "breakup" without closure. And perhaps one where you would be hard-pressed to get closure, since it will be awkward to broach the subject with the person in question.
The ambiguity, the feeling of "not knowing" why the friendship just fell apart is probably the main reason why these types of "friendship breakups" hurt more than romantic relationships.
Nine Locations from Myths and Legends That May Be Real
The trouble with fantastical legends from antiquity is that they change over time. Storytellers embellish the accounts to make them more exciting or more meaningful. The oldest versions of these stories may have been lost forever, but the best yarns begin with a grain of truth. Evidence of those grains of truth emerge when archaeologists discover the remains of the places where those stories were supposed to have occurred.
The King Arthur legends may have been based on a real person, although not in the form he takes in the stories. The places associated with Arthur are real, and more discoveries are made in those places all the time. The city of Troy figures heavily in Greek mythology, and has been unearthed gradually over 150 years of excavations in Turkey. The lost city of El Dorado could be hiding right under our noses. The Pool of Siloam was lost in Jerusalem for thousands of years before it was discovered in 2004. Read about these and other ancient places that were relegated to mythology until they were found, at Smithsonian.
The Origins of Songs You Didn't Know Were Covers
It's always a good idea to keep control over the rights to a song you wrote. A famous case is Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You." Elvis Presley wanted to record the song in 1974, but Colonel Tom Parker demanded that Elvis get half the publishing rights, and Dolly said no. Eighteen years later, Whitney Houston sang the song and made Dolly "enough money to buy Graceland." But it doesn't always turn out so well.
The song "Without You" went to number #1 when Harry Nilsson released it from his album Nilsson Schmilsson in 1971. Mariah Carey's version in 1994 became a global hit. What you might not know is that the song was written by Pete Ham and Tom Evans for their band Badfinger. They recorded for the 1970 album No Dice, but it was never released as a single. The songwriters were thrilled when Nilsson's cover became a hit. Surely they would enjoy royalties from the song, but it was not to be. Ham committed suicide by hanging in 1975, after their business manager ran off with the band's money. Evans did the same in 1983, after an argument over the royalties to "Without You."
You can hear Badfinger's original recording of "Without You," along with five other songs that became big hits in cover versions, but not for their obscure original rock recordings, at Cracked.
