# Anyone dissapointed by glorified stuff, too? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 22, 2015, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-dissapointed-by-glorified-stuff-too/741129 "2015-12-22T22:06:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2015, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-dissapointed-by-glorified-stuff-too/741129/41 "2015-12-24T18:14:43Z")
Back in the 1800’s lobster was considered a cheap food for the poor. There was almost a prison riot in Maine that was triggered by the prisoners getting so sick of being fed lobster all the time. Google on “lobster prison riots Maine” ---
**Author:** ![botsgotme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@botsgotme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/botsgotme)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2015, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-dissapointed-by-glorified-stuff-too/741129/42 "2015-12-25T15:16:37Z")
years ago, the Russians became concerned about overfishing of the sturgeon fish (which supply the caviar). they put their food scientists to work, and came up with artificial caviar. from what i remember, it wasn’t half bad-is it still made? has anyone tried it? ---
**Author:** ![HeXen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@HeXen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeXen)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2015, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-dissapointed-by-glorified-stuff-too/741129/43 "2015-12-25T15:28:29Z")
Hate lobster or any sea food. Hate the taste of anything with alcohol in it unless it’s very low % and don’t smoke. So no, I guess I don’t have the problem of being disappointed by them because I never use them. However there are a lot of cheap electronics that always disappoint me. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2015, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-dissapointed-by-glorified-stuff-too/741129/44 "2015-12-25T22:28:47Z")
Hover Boards don’t explode underneath people even half as well as I’d like them too. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2015, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-dissapointed-by-glorified-stuff-too/741129/45 "2015-12-25T22:58:27Z")
> [@pidgeon92](#): > > I love everything listed except for the cigars. Me too. Especially lobster and oysters. The latter may especially be a vehicle for the cocktail sauce but the combination is glorious. Chacun a son gout. Skiing is not for me, but I can see that some just love it, especially the speed. I find cruises meh, boring, but that’s just me. The point is, these things are personal. ---
**Author:** ![lorene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@lorene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorene)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-dissapointed-by-glorified-stuff-too/741129/46 "2015-12-27T02:36:05Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > Pho. After years of listening to Internet snobs fondle themselves while telling everyone far and wide how much they loved pho, I went and had some. > > It’s soup. It’s delicious, imo, and dead cheap everywhere around here. I don’t see it as glorified into priciness like oysters and caviar. I love lobster and champagne, though. Not so much cigars. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-dissapointed-by-glorified-stuff-too/741129/47 "2015-12-27T02:56:47Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > How about luxury cars? Most of them are just rebadged versions of cheaper cars, with a few more bells and whistles, at a premium cost. Are they really any “better” than their less-expensive versions? For the most part, I think they probably are better, even if based on the same chassis as the cheaper marques. Many of the bells and whistles you allude to are exactly the things that make the car luxurious, like better seats, leather and wood instead of vinyl and plastic, better sound systems, and so on. Then you get to the car’s exterior, and you might find that the luxury marque has a better finish from day one, although I believe this is less true than it used to be. Back in the day, you could wash and polish your VW Golf to the limit of your endurance, but you couldn’t make that finish look as good as that of a Porsche. (Though you probably didn’t mean high performance cars here). In sum, leaving aside such performance related questions as fuel consumption and acceleration, a luxury car is much better objectively speaking. Whether all those features are worth the added cost, however, is quite subjective. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-dissapointed-by-glorified-stuff-too/741129/48 "2015-12-27T04:40:51Z")
Fancy salt. I defy anyone to taste the difference between table salt, sea salt, grey salt, pink salt or any other kind of salt. Different crystal sizes can make a difference in some cases, but the flavor is the same. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-dissapointed-by-glorified-stuff-too/741129/49 "2015-12-27T06:24:25Z")
There’s plenty of ‘glorified’ stuff that disappoints me. Lobster is $150kg now in this country, so it’s not disappointing because i can’t afford to buy one of the spiny bastards. I do like lobster though, and prawns, and oysters, and mussels and any freaking seafood ever! 🙂 Anything sigged by Jamie Oliver in the supermarket is always disappointing in its mediocrity (and exorbitant price). Expensive frying pans. I’ve had some of the best over the years…Scanpan, Baccarat, yada yada, and they’re not worth shit. Nowadays I buy a cheapo version from the cheapo retailers, then chuck it out when it’s seen better days and buy another for $20. I’m many dollars ahead. I can’t tell the difference between a $15 bottle of wine and a $150 bottle of wine. I’m sure there’s some that can, but it ain’t me. But in most other things, I’m as pretentious as all get out. I never buy ground spices because they’re crap. I grate my own fresh nutmeg and cinnamon, and use dried star anise as a regular part of my cooking repertoire. I do drink instant coffee though. 😃 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-dissapointed-by-glorified-stuff-too/741129/50 "2015-12-27T08:53:00Z")
Pretty much any food that includes ‘foam’ or ‘air’ in the description. I am very sympathetic to truly inventive, pioneering cuisine such as performed at the famed El Bulli restaurant, but there is a substratum where these inventive ideas seem to be just parroted idlly and without much reason. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-dissapointed-by-glorified-stuff-too/741129/51 "2015-12-27T11:25:14Z")
Golf clubs - they have done actual scientific tests and a $1,000 driver really hits no better than one costing much less. It’s all in the skill of the golfer. Musical instruments - I was surprised to see a $3,000 trombone and a $12,000 upright bass. A piano store near us sells pianos in all price ranges and has some costing well over $100,000. They said they sell about 3 of them a year. Is a Steinway that much better than a Yamaha? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-dissapointed-by-glorified-stuff-too/741129/52 "2015-12-27T20:54:41Z")
> [@botsgotme](#): > > Good points…I for one don’t understand the fascination with filet mignon-it has very little flavor-I prefer London Broil. Are you kidding? Filet mignon is the only cut of beef I’ll eat rare, and I love it that way because it’s got so much flavor from the get-go; I don’t want it to be spoiled by too much cooking. > [@Rigamarole](#): > > Lobster is frickin delicious, and champagne’s pretty damn good also (though you can get some brands pretty cheap, I’ve certainly never had the fancy schmancy stuff like Cristal, Moet, or Dom Perignon). Lobster, prepared properly, is a thing of wondrousness. And it went from being the food of poor people to being the food of the rich, well, probably before I was born, as it’s in the mental category of “things that have been that way as far back as I can remember.” And there’s cheap, mediocre champagne, just the way there’s cheap, mediocre beer. For a good champagne that won’t break your wallet, I recommend [Paul Cheneau](http://www.wine.com/v6/Paul-Cheneau-Blanc-de-Blancs-Reserva-Brut-Cava/wine/39546/Detail.aspx?state=NY&warehouse=NY&s=GoogleBase_CSE_&cid=GoogleBase_CSE_39546_NY&gclid=CKrTzOL1_MkCFcMRHwodWpIEmg), which is not officially champagne, since it comes from Spain, but AFAIAC it’s the real thing. ---
**Author:** ![scootergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e99b99/32.png) [@scootergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scootergirl)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-dissapointed-by-glorified-stuff-too/741129/53 "2015-12-27T21:42:22Z")
Diamonds. There are other gems that are so much prettier, IMO. Ruby, emerald, tourmaline, sapphire, fire opal. I even like Jade more than diamonds. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-dissapointed-by-glorified-stuff-too/741129/54 "2015-12-28T02:40:13Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Is a Steinway that much better than a Yamaha? I’ve ranted about this before, but the best piano I ever played was an ex-Chicago Public School Cable from around 1917. Six hundred bucks American, but it had already been sold. Sweet feel. Not so sure about the sound compared with a Steinway, but anything sounds better than a Yamaha. At least they’re consistent–even their electrics have the “Yamaha Sound” of crappy tininess. ---
**Author:** ![OffByOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/45deac/32.png) [@OffByOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OffByOne)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-dissapointed-by-glorified-stuff-too/741129/55 "2015-12-29T18:03:17Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > Pho. After years of listening to Internet snobs fondle themselves while telling everyone far and wide how much they loved pho, I went and had some. > > It’s soup. And just one “king” away from being phoking soup. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-dissapointed-by-glorified-stuff-too/741129/56 "2015-12-29T19:00:54Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > Number four in this Cracked article. Monster cable and beats headphones are there too. > > [6 Popular 'Luxury' Products That Are Based On An Absurd Lie | Cracked.com](http://www.cracked.com/article_23308_the-6-craziest-lies-advertisers-expect-you-to-believe.html) I saw that list. I had to laugh at Beats headphones. Just cheap crappy headphones, but they added metal weights to create the illusion that they’re sturdy, high-quality, and worth more than about 5 bucks. My own entry is craft beers. Most microbrewed beers are way too bitter. Budweiser and Miller are top brands in the US for a reason: they spent some time considering the drinkability of their product. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-dissapointed-by-glorified-stuff-too/741129/57 "2015-12-29T19:24:33Z")
> [@Count\_Blucher](#): > > Hover Boards don’t explode underneath people even half as well as I’d like them too. LOL! 😃 Hoverboards are a borderline scam anyway. “Hover” implies that you’ll be floating above the ground, but in reality they’re just motorized skateboards. ---
**Author:** ![dukeinlondon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dfb087/32.png) [@dukeinlondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dukeinlondon)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-dissapointed-by-glorified-stuff-too/741129/58 "2015-12-29T20:28:16Z")
> [@Daylate](#): > > Back in the 1800’s lobster was considered a cheap food for the poor. There was almost a prison riot in Maine that was triggered by the prisoners getting so sick of being fed lobster all the time. > > Google on “lobster prison riots Maine” I love it but probably part of it is probably because I easy it very occasionally. ---
**Author:** ![dukeinlondon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dfb087/32.png) [@dukeinlondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dukeinlondon)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-dissapointed-by-glorified-stuff-too/741129/59 "2015-12-29T20:31:18Z")
When I used to smoke, I loved Cuban cigars and was amazed at how well it went with cognac the first time I tried it. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2015, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-dissapointed-by-glorified-stuff-too/741129/60 "2015-12-29T20:41:02Z")
Kipling had it right, “And a woman is only a woman, but a good Cigar is a Smoke.” I don’t smoke often but sometimes there is nothing better than a good cigar and a drink under the stars on a beautiful night. I like lobster but usually prefer crab and shrimp. I never liked oysters until I had a nice grilled oyster dish. I can’t stand them on the half shell. I’ve never tried caviar because I know I won’t like it. I don’t think I’ve ever had anything considered good champagne. I’m not impressed with the cheap stuff. Filet Mignon is a nice cut when I want a small piece of beef. I don’t think anyone considers it the best cut. [QUOTE=Diceman] My own entry is craft beers. Most microbrewed beers are way too bitter. Budweiser and Miller are top brands in the US for a reason: they spent some time considering the drinkability of their product. [/QUOTE] It’s a matter of taste. I have always preferred a darker heavier beer to a pilsner, long before there was anything called a craft beer. Most mainstream American beers are not as bad as what most beer snobs will say but there are plenty of better tasting beers out there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-dissapointed-by-glorified-stuff-too/741129.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-dissapointed-by-glorified-stuff-too/741129.md?page=4)