When recycling wine and liquor bottles in the bins for my apartment complex, I make sure to put the bottles in with the labels up, so the other people in my complex can read them and know that somebody around here has better taste than they do. They don’t know who that person is, but dammit, I do.
When I first got my BMW, I used to cruise around the parking lot at work a few extra times to make sure as many other employees as possible knew that it was mine. I was in my early twenties then though and I wouldn’t even be tempted to do such a thing now.
My in-laws are millionaires in the $15 million range. Both of my FIL’s best friends have over $100 million dollars. I hang around with them as much as I do anybody. That has taught me to be very humble about that kind of thing. They are all very humble and down to earth themselves. The feaux rich thing is incredibly tacky to me.
After we moved, my husband loaded down the bookshelves in our new place with the likes of Middle English Verse Romances, Complete Works of Shakespeare, and History of Literary Criticism, along with other historical tomes and heavy-duty nonfiction–the kind of literature that would make us look very well-read if anybody thought we’d actually read it.
When I asked him what he thought he was doing, he said he wanted it to look like somebody had gone to graduate school. Then he said anyway these books actually looked better, from a design point of view, since they had hard covers in subdued neutral colors.
The cheap mystery and sci-fi paperbacks that we actually read? In the basement.
(I should say, he actually reads pretty heavy-duty intellectual fare. Keeps him from having insomnia. The cheap mysteries are mine.)
I display the more intellectual books in my collection more prominently than the fluff as well although considering how small my library is, The Moral Animal is only a bookshelf away from Superheroes and Philosophy
I make a big song and dance production if I’m offered a glass for my beer in a bar. A glass! No thanks, I don’t need any high-falutin’ glass to enjoy a old one. No sirree. And you just pony up that shot right next to it. There’s also a lot of eye-rolling involved.
It’s reverse snobbery, but it’s snobbery none-the-less.
My wife (GF at the time) had some pillows on her bed. I noticed that they were put in to the pillow cases backwards so I switched them. Within minutes she noticed that (don’t know if she could tell that it JUST happened, or if she just happened to notice it at that time and as far as she knew it could have been like that for a while) and switched them around. When I asked her why she wanted the tags hanging out she replied "I want people to see that I have $80 pillows. :eek: Personally, I’d be SURE to hide that, I wouldn’t want someone knowing I spent that much on a pillow.
When one of my aunts turned 30 there was a party for her. A few of her friends from work were invited. One of them was this awful woman who looked like she was made out of sinew and had a personality to match her looks. Whenever I talked, she would yawn loudly and repeatedly check her watch. And she didn’t even know me! Hag.
When refering to something that happened in college, I make sure to specify whether it was during my undergrad days or during Grad School. Like anyone gives a rats ass about my masters degree when I’m describing the antics of dorm life.
I wear underwear over 70 percent of the time.
The only thing I did like this was back in high school. When I was a senior, I got my class ring about 5 months before everybody (from a local jeweler instead of the overpriced company the school used). I made sure everybody saw it (even though it wasn’t gold).
The only time I ever displayed any kind of snobbery at all (that I can recall, anyway) was when an obnoxious neighbor-woman was getting on my nerves, bad! My hubby was working out of town during the week and only home on weekends. Her hubby had just landed a job at the local chicken processing plant. She was going on and on about how wonderful his new job was, and kept saying my husband ought to apply there. I kept saying “no, thans, he’s happy with the job he has”, and finally she said something that implied he was only “happy” with it because it got him away from home all week. So, I asked how much her husband made at the chicken processing plant, and she said “$9.00 an hour to start, but he expects to be making $15.00 within three years!!” to which I replied, “well, mr. new is making $35.00 an hour plus benefits, so you can see the appeal of his working out of town”. It shut her up, but I really felt bad about having to stoop to that.
I am one of the few people in my town to drive an entry level vehicle. I have a small Ford Focus Wagon. Most of my town drives Beemers, Mercedes, large SUV and the most horrible: Hummers. I take pride in my frugal and somewhat gas efficient ways. We are medium income in a town that has many McMansion neighborhoods.
Word usage, especially in conversation.
Word play–and I am too fond of making quasi-literary allusions (and real intellectual would laugh his/her ass off at me) in conversation.
I also tend to refer to my father’s Cape Cod house a wee too much… :rolleyes:
Good point. Reverse snobbery is really the same thing as snobbery. I remember a relevant quote although I can’t remember the source: “I can see your vanity through the holes in your coat.”
The best part of this story is that when we have a thread listing examples of OCD-related antics, you can use it again. 
Maybe I’m a little too self-satisfied when I tell people I’ve never watched any of the hit shows they’re so fond of (CSI, Desperate Housewives, the list is endless).
I borrow a line from the old Dick Van Dyke Show: “I don’t own a television machine.”
And I don’t
I wear underwear over 70 percent of my body
Make obscure Bible references. If called on it, say it is in first or second Kings.
Years ago, when cellphones were much less common, I was going to a party where I was concerned about making a good impression. I arranged to have a friend call my number every ten minutes. I would politely excuse myself and walk away to deal with the call. Looking back now, it was pretty pathetic.