# In your eyes, what kind of stuff is pretentious? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 6, 2008, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-eyes-what-kind-of-stuff-is-pretentious/466625 "2008-10-06T02:31:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2008, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-eyes-what-kind-of-stuff-is-pretentious/466625/41 "2008-10-06T18:18:41Z")
> [@Belrix](#): > > Wow - 38 posts and no mention of Jazz? > > I think so much fusion, free form, etc. jazz is absolute crap but there’s a whole continent of defenders who won’t admit that the emperor has no clothes. Perhaps just a variation on the art world. > > A related subject - the “audiophile” who can’t admit that my consumer grade Sony receiver is indistinguishable to his God-owns-this-exact-model ultimate listening machine. He uses it to play his jazz fusion records which are pressed from vinyl rendered from the bones of virgins. Man after my own heart…I was asked to leave a jazz club in Tokyo once, because I laughed at some wanker saying…“But, you have to listen to the notes they DON’T play” Well, I say laughed, guffawed is probably the better term. They take their Jazz very seriously in Japan. Also, **madmonk28** , I always tell people I’m from Seattle, becasue if I say Sedro Woolley, I get this blank look and have to explain. Not pretentious, just expiditious (SP?) This coming from a guy who rides a vintage Vespa, listens to bands that haven’t even been formed yet, and drinks Miller Light. two out of three pretensions ain’t bad! ---
**Author:** ![Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abby_Emma_Sasha)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2008, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-eyes-what-kind-of-stuff-is-pretentious/466625/42 "2008-10-06T18:26:46Z")
> [@sciurophobic](#): > > Maybe 20 years ago, when nobody knew what a latte was and a serving of coffee wasn’t a liter. Today it’s pretentious to say you don’t go to Starbucks, but instead grind your own using beans special ordered from a guy you know in Sumatra. Dude, I use Kroger brand coffee. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2008, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-eyes-what-kind-of-stuff-is-pretentious/466625/43 "2008-10-06T19:05:05Z")
You think people go to Starbucks thinking how cool and hip and with-it they are? That they don’t go to Starbucks to get a coffee drink, but to be SEEN with a coffee drink? You honestly believe that? There is such a thing as a pretentious coffee snob. Such a specimen would rather be strangled to death with his own entrails than set foot in a Starbucks. If you don’t like way Starbucks serves coffee, or you think it’s overpriced, then there’s no arguing with taste. But to call Starbucks customers pretentious? Folks, Starbucks is about as pretentious as the International House of Pancakes. Oh, you only like those fancy imported pancakes? What, American pancakes not good enough for you? Fucking poseur pancake snobs! ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2008, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-eyes-what-kind-of-stuff-is-pretentious/466625/44 "2008-10-06T19:23:55Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > I say this as an atheist and a liberal, but I hate those Darwin fish decals on cars. Not only do I find them pretentious, but also offensive. The Christian fish is a religious symbol. Somehow I doubt that the type of person who would put a Darwin fish on his car would mock a Hindu, Muslim, or Buddhist religious symbol, but somehow mocking a Christian symbol is ok. I don’t have to agree with a religion to respect the importance of its symbolism to believers. I don’t think you understand. The people sporting the Darwin Fish, having taken their cue from Christians, are simply expressing their religious beliefs as well. I do it too: [This](http://bp2.blogger.com/_xy9mFIX8yIo/Rx7cnbV9YeI/AAAAAAAAAFs/vSKNbpvd8Fc/s1600-h/flyingspagmon.jpg) is on my car. I have just as much of a right to express my religious beliefs as anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2008, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-eyes-what-kind-of-stuff-is-pretentious/466625/45 "2008-10-06T19:50:17Z")
> [@Belrix](#): > > Wow - 38 posts and no mention of Jazz? > > I think so much fusion, free form, etc. jazz is absolute crap but there’s a whole continent of defenders who won’t admit that the emperor has no clothes. Perhaps just a variation on the art world. Speaking as a jazz fan myself, I couldn’t agree more! I’d have to posit that 40% of what is played on the Sirius jazz channel (and 80% of what is played on the XM jazz channel - I’ve been a customer of both) is absolute crap. To randomly play the instruments, making as much discord as possible, and then looking down your nose at anyone who doesn’t appreciate your “art,” is the epitome of pretentiousness, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2008, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-eyes-what-kind-of-stuff-is-pretentious/466625/46 "2008-10-06T19:57:10Z")
Re: the fish. There’s also that niggling little bit of irritation caused by the fact that the fish isn’t a Christian symbol, so much as it’s a symbol of the old times when it was dangerous to be obviously Christian. It was a secret symbol. It was divorced from Christian symbolism enough to be a deniable symbol. Flashing the secret symbol in modern times is a little affected. A little ‘I’m a good person surrounded by bad people who might be bad to me if they knew how good I was.’ Or a little ‘I’m so good that I’d be Christian even if it was dangerous.’ Or, at the beginning, ‘You probably don’t even know what this symbol means, unless you’re one of us.’ Putting a cross on your car testifies that you’re Christian. The fish? There’s something a little bad spirited about the fish. Not that everyone that uses it is bad spirited, just that it carries along that whiff of meanness no matter what the user’s intent was. I think that’s what makes the Darwin fish so much fun. It deflates the pretentiousness of the fish symbol. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2008, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-eyes-what-kind-of-stuff-is-pretentious/466625/47 "2008-10-06T20:20:01Z")
[Oval stickers on your car.](http://www.cafepress.com/ovalstickers) That’s super that you summer in MV (Martha’s Vinyard) or ski in VT (Vermont). ---
**Author:** ![Caveat\_lector\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@Caveat\_lector\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caveat_lector_1)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2008, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-eyes-what-kind-of-stuff-is-pretentious/466625/48 "2008-10-06T20:22:05Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > Re: the fish. > > There’s also that niggling little bit of irritation caused by the fact that the fish isn’t a Christian symbol, so much as it’s a symbol of the old times when it was dangerous to be obviously Christian. It was a secret symbol. It was divorced from Christian symbolism enough to be a deniable symbol. > > Flashing the secret symbol in modern times is a little affected. A little ‘I’m a good person surrounded by bad people who might be bad to me if they knew how good I was.’ Or a little ‘I’m so good that I’d be Christian even if it was dangerous.’ Or, at the beginning, ‘You probably don’t even know what this symbol means, unless you’re one of us.’ > > Putting a cross on your car testifies that you’re Christian. The fish? There’s something a little bad spirited about the fish. Not that everyone that uses it is bad spirited, just that it carries along that whiff of meanness no matter what the user’s intent was. I think that’s what makes the Darwin fish so much fun. It deflates the pretentiousness of the fish symbol. I think your waaay over thinking the view of those that have these on their cars. Heck most of them don’t even know whats proper name is. Whenever I used to call it an Ichthys I’d have to then say “The Christan fish thing” before I’d get any comprehension. Heck I’d love it if most people that had these on their cars thought that way because then they’d know a lot more about the history of their faith many people do now. The pretentious thing would be bad, but we could work on that. Personally I don’t put Christan symbols on my car because I’m sure I’m (like most people) occasionally an idiot while driving and don’t want to give a bad example. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2008, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-eyes-what-kind-of-stuff-is-pretentious/466625/49 "2008-10-06T20:32:02Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > And they can get away with [occasional shaving or multi-day stubble] because they don’t have a boss who will look down on it. > > It fact, it doesn’t say “This is attractive,” as much as it says, “I don’t really have to work for a living.” How does this figure? What relationship does shaving have with working and why is your facial stubbery, or otherwise, any of your boss’s business? Perhaps you’ve decided to try a beard, or goatee, or whaterver else. Aside from someone in a position where looks actually matter(models, actors, front-line sales/support people) how does stubble affect if a person “does real work” or not? A boss isn’t your mother/wife/husband/partner and if you shave or don’t shave shouldn’t concern them in a large number of occupations. It has nothing to do with how well someone can do a job. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![buttonjockey308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2008, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-eyes-what-kind-of-stuff-is-pretentious/466625/50 "2008-10-06T20:36:01Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > I say this as an atheist and a liberal, but I hate those Darwin fish decals on cars. Not only do I find them pretentious, but also offensive. The Christian fish is a religious symbol. Somehow I doubt that the type of person who would put a Darwin fish on his car would mock a Hindu, Muslim, or Buddhist religious symbol, but somehow mocking a Christian symbol is ok. I don’t have to agree with a religion to respect the importance of its symbolism to believers. > > I also find the support our troops/yellow ribbon magnets to be pretentious. The Cross is a symbol, the fish is marketing. ---
**Author:** ![buttonjockey308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2008, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-eyes-what-kind-of-stuff-is-pretentious/466625/51 "2008-10-06T20:43:22Z")
Know what I find pretentious? Talking about what I find pretentious. ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2008, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-eyes-what-kind-of-stuff-is-pretentious/466625/52 "2008-10-06T20:43:33Z")
> [@Mtgman](#): > > How does this figure? What relationship does shaving have with working and why is your facial stubbery, or otherwise, any of your boss’s business? Perhaps you’ve decided to try a beard, or goatee, or whaterver else. Aside from someone in a position where looks actually matter(models, actors, front-line sales/support people) how does stubble affect if a person “does real work” or not? > > A boss isn’t your mother/wife/husband/partner and if you shave or don’t shave shouldn’t concern them in a large number of occupations. It has nothing to do with how well someone can do a job. > > Enjoy, > Steven I assumed **guizot** was being facetious. But you’re right. With me I _must_ shave everyday as in my line of work my face must receive a respiratory mask should I fall unconscious, and facial hair defeats the seal on the mask. So, on my days off I wander around with stubble because I’m sick of shaving. ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2008, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-eyes-what-kind-of-stuff-is-pretentious/466625/53 "2008-10-06T20:50:49Z")
Pretty much nothing-I don’t worry about other people. There is one thing, though, that makes me roll my eyes and I _do_ feel is pretty pretentious. And that is… Calling yourself an “ex-pat” when you’re really an immigrant. IMMIGRANT. Man, what am I? An Indian ex-pat? An erstwhile Quebecoise ex-pat? Nope-am IMMIGRANT. Am happy to be immigrant (naturalised twice over). I won’t categorise the type of people who generally fall prey to this-there are exceptions to the rule but they all tend to be pretty similar. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2008, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-eyes-what-kind-of-stuff-is-pretentious/466625/54 "2008-10-06T21:36:29Z")
Hating things other people like, and accusing the people who like it of being blind. _That_ is stupid pretension. ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_Astronaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Bad\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2008, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-eyes-what-kind-of-stuff-is-pretentious/466625/55 "2008-10-06T21:45:48Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > I say this as an atheist and a liberal, but I hate those Darwin fish decals on cars. Not only do I find them pretentious, but also offensive. The Christian fish is a religious symbol. Somehow I doubt that the type of person who would put a Darwin fish on his car would mock a Hindu, Muslim, or Buddhist religious symbol, but somehow mocking a Christian symbol is ok. I don’t have to agree with a religion to respect the importance of its symbolism to believers. In all seriousness, I would happily mock Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, or any other religion, since they are all silly and irrational (IMHO of course!). The problem with doing it publicly is that in our culture mocking these minority groups can be easily confused with racism, so it’s best to let the symbols of the dominant faith represent religion in general. See also the [crossbuster.](http://www.google.ca/search?num=20&hl=en&q=crossbuster&btnG=Search&meta=) ---
**Author:** ![mike\_ahndembroak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mike\_ahndembroak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mike_ahndembroak)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2008, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-eyes-what-kind-of-stuff-is-pretentious/466625/56 "2008-10-06T21:48:33Z")
Anyone with there cellphone on in a restaurant. Like were all thinking,Christ this guy must be important that he has to take a call during a meal. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2008, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-eyes-what-kind-of-stuff-is-pretentious/466625/57 "2008-10-06T21:53:09Z")
I’m so pretentious I don’t even drink coffee, _at all_. And I happen to like guys with stubble on their faces. I can’t think of real-life pretentiousness right now, but I hate hate hate it in movies when the characters are so important that they can only talk while striding briskly down a tiled corridor in their stacked heels, wearing sunglasses, and never smiling. ---
**Author:** ![YoudNeverGuess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a587f6/32.png) [@YoudNeverGuess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YoudNeverGuess)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2008, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-eyes-what-kind-of-stuff-is-pretentious/466625/58 "2008-10-06T21:56:14Z")
I don’t know why people are so bothered by others who pronounce foreign words correctly (I’m not talking about words that have been fully assimilated into English here like ‘restaurant’) e.g. food names or place names. OK if there is a very common and lng-standing accepted English pronunciation of that place or word fine but otherwise why would anyone intentionally mispronounce a word just because they’re afraid of seeming ‘pretentious’. For example I would never dream of saying Paree instead of Paris but I’m not going to pronounce ‘bruschetta’ as brush-etta when I know i’s brusk-etta. What’s the point? 😕 Things I find pretentious: - people who proclaim that the sound quality on vinyl is better than CD and if you think otherwise you’re a fool - another vote for people who think they’re better just because they buy expensive branded items - people who call themselves ‘travellers’ when in the end they’re really just tourists like everyone else. They might not be on a tour bus or staying in a resort but if you’re just on holiday in a foreign country and not living there for a sinificant period you are a tourist. In this category I’d also add people who won’t visit ‘obvious’ tourist attractions because they think they wouldn’t be seeing the ‘real’ China or India or wherever. No problem with people who are interested in other things and prefer going to small towns or just hanging out on the islands etc. but if they sneer at those who spend their two weeks checking out the big sights then that’s pretentious. After all big tourist attractions become big attractions usually for a very good reason. ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2008, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-eyes-what-kind-of-stuff-is-pretentious/466625/59 "2008-10-06T22:08:01Z")
Oh that’s totally true. Either you’re a culturally sensitive tourist who decides to behave appropriately in his/her host country or you’re an a-hole tourist but you’re still a TOURIST. I will cut the “travellers” some slack, however, for generally being on high alert not to act like jerkwads in foreign countries, no matter how annoying they act towards other tourists/travellers/wellheeled hobos/whatever. ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2008, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-eyes-what-kind-of-stuff-is-pretentious/466625/60 "2008-10-06T22:08:57Z")
> [@YoudNeverGuess](#): > > I don’t know why people are so bothered by others who pronounce foreign words correctly (I’m not talking about words that have been fully assimilated into English here like ‘restaurant’) e.g. food names or place names. OK if there is a very common and lng-standing accepted English pronunciation of that place or word fine but otherwise why would anyone intentionally mispronounce a word just because they’re afraid of seeming ‘pretentious’. For example I would never dream of saying Paree instead of Paris but I’m not going to pronounce ‘bruschetta’ as brush-etta when I know i’s brusk-etta. What’s the point? 😕 > > … I have problems with this and Italian. I learned about most of the major Italian cities and regiones for the first time while learning Italian. I honestly don’t know what the other pronunciations would be for, say, Cagliari, Padova, Capri, etc. I also am much more used to saying Roma, Sicilia, Firenze, Parma, Genova, whatever than their English equivalents. I’m also in a bad habit of saying “pay-sto” instead of “pest-oh”. IOW: bite me! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-eyes-what-kind-of-stuff-is-pretentious/466625.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-your-eyes-what-kind-of-stuff-is-pretentious/466625.md?page=4)