the.com/irritant
The thing that's technically small but occupies 90% of your brain anyway.
means A substance or factor that causes irritation, inflammation, or persistent annoyance — physical or otherwise.
from From Latin 'irritare,' meaning to provoke, excite, or tease — a word already doing emotional work two thousand years ago. It passed into English through 'irritate' in the 1500s-1600s, first describing physical provocation (of flesh, of nerves) before settling comfortably into its modern double life: the grain of sand in your eye, and the comment your coworker made that you're still replaying at 2 a.m.
- origin
- from latin irritare, to provoke or excite
- biology use
- causes inflammation without actual tissue damage
- psychology
- brain ranks it bigger than objectively worse problems
- classic form
- usually a person, not a substance