Oh yeah, I forgot to list my own pompous phrase; people will sometimes ask me what I’m reading - I’m a voracious, eclectic reader (there’s a couple of $2 words for you), so I have been known to be reading things that pretty much stopped the conversation dead in its tracks (in a bad way). “Yeah, I’m just about done Stephen Hawkings Brief History of Time. How about you? How are you coming on your latest Harlequin romance?” Eep.
I don’t think that’s really it. When you say “Oh’ I don’t watch TV”, while it might be true, you sound like you’re being a snob or something. It’s not that they’ll think you’re smart, but that they’ll think that you think of yourself as being superior. One can be fiercely proud of one’s Harvard education, but still not wish to insert that fact into conversation randomly. There’s certain facts that are going to sound like bragging if mentioned out of context.
“Oh, I don’t watch TV…”
I did a good 5-year stint without television, and found I had to say this regularly because people so often communicate using the latest catchphrase from <Insert currently cool show here> and I had to explain the blank look on my face. The worst I recall was “Talk to the hand” - WTF:confused:
If nothing else, I learned during that time just how much TV is American Culture, and if you’re not watching you’re probably going to be out of the loop in many conversations.
[snobbery] Still don’t own a television, my roommate’s works just fine. :p[/snobbery]
Bwahaha! Me too!
I have really been enjoying the huge amount of Dopefest activity in the NYC area because Dopers don’t tend to look askance at that sort of thing.
Tsu- I have never seen any of the star wars movies either, I thought I was the only person on earth.
I prefer “I don’t have a TV.” Everyone assumes I can’t afford one (not an entirely baseless assumption for a poor college student).
Funny part is I own dozens of movies.
The reason I love “pedantic” is that the word refers to itself. Pedantic is a pedantic word. Y’see? Isn’t that funny? Um…nevermind…
I don’t have to worry so much about sounding pompous as being thought deranged. Despite years of blank looks from people, I still use obscure quotes and references, and I still have that moment of surely-they’ve-heard/read/seen-it denial before I accept that they really don’t know why I’m laughing. That’s one reason I like Dopefests and my IFGS (LARP) group; they get the jokes.
I hate answering questions about how long I’ve been working with computers and electronics–that does sound pompous to me. I know the answers seem like too many years for someone my age.
I refuse to dumb down my vocabulary or my grammar–if I can be expected to keep up with other people’s silly pop-culture references, then they can certainly keep up with proper usage. I’ll stop and explain if need be, but I won’t start with words of one syllable. (I like “pedantic” myself, although not as much as “esoteric”, another self-referential term.)
Thank you Lemur866!
I always thought I was being “oh so clever” when I used it in that context (you know…, clever in a ::groan:: kinda way).
Cleverness is lost on the masses.
… at least my version seems to be.
I do happen to own a TV now, but I can live without easily, and did so for about three years. I was amazed at the reactions I got. Many people used to quiz me as if the concept was hard to elusive or grasp.
Me: “…I wouldn’t know, I don’t have a TV”.
X: “What… not at all?”
Me: “Yes. I just don’t watch TV”.
X: “What, not even the news or something?”
Me: “Look, it’s no big deal, I just don’t have a TV”.
X: “So you mean you don’t watch it much…?”
And so on.
I also used to get people asking what on earth I did when I got home from work, as if to not have a TV meant there were no other viable options.
So I learned not to mention it.
“To properly make love to a woman, I need, at a minimum, an hour. Any less and I feel I may have left her unsatisfied,” says ChiefScott.
“There go his delusions of grandeur again,” think the Teeming Millions.
I have the “I don’t watch TV” problem as well, and I wouldn’t bring it up if people didn’t keep talking about something hilarious from MTV. I usually try and qualify it with “It’s not that I think the programs are bad, it’s just that I always like to be doing something myself”, and add “I don’t like reading for the same reason” to water down any perceived superiority complex.
The most hideous example of this concerns my university application. I wrote a personal statement, and my careers advisor told me that a) it was too nerdy b) it could be taken as pretentious and c) they might suspect it wasn’t written by me. Too nerdy!? Are universities going to think it’s ‘nerdy’ that I can do some basic programming when I’m applying for a Math course? Apparently so. Is the word ‘lucid’ too erudite? I guess it is. Is a 17-year-old high school student incapable of knowing what ‘lucid’ means? Yup. And, what was this personal statement for again…? Oh yeah, an institute of higher education. Please…
I was forced to replace the real substance with comments on irrelevant sports and theatrical activities that I’d already noted. All I can say is that I’m lucky I applied for an unpopular course. I later found out that British universities hardly care about extra curricular activities, and would rather see why you are suited for the course you chose.
Coming back to the word ‘lucid’, I notice that people are far less likely to notice a short yet uncommon word even if they would be hopeless to define it. Oh, and by the way, has anybody managed to use the word “defenestrate” in a non-pretentious manner? 
There’s a challenge for everybody in this thread.
Quoting is also mired by this social phenomenon. If you want to quote acceptably, make sure you don’t actually acknowledge its creator – any knowledge of its origins will show you to be the book reading, high-and-mighty monster you are.
I have the “I don’t watch TV” problem as well, and I wouldn’t bring it up if people didn’t keep talking about something hilarious from MTV. I usually try and qualify it with “It’s not that I think the programs are bad, it’s just that I always like to be doing something myself”, and add “I don’t like reading for the same reason” to water down any perceived superiority complex.
The most hideous example of this concerns my university application. I wrote a personal statement, and my careers advisor told me that a) it was too nerdy b) it could be taken as pretentious and c) they might suspect it wasn’t written by me. Too nerdy!? Are universities going to think it’s ‘nerdy’ that I can do some basic programming when I’m applying for a Math course? Apparently so. Is the word ‘lucid’ too erudite? I guess it is. Is a 17-year-old high school student incapable of knowing what ‘lucid’ means? Yup. And, what was this personal statement for again…? Oh yeah, an institute of higher education. Please…
I was forced to replace the real substance with comments on irrelevant sports and theatrical activities that I’d already noted. All I can say is that I’m lucky I applied for an unpopular course. I later found out that British universities hardly care about extra curricular activities, and would rather see why you are suited for the course you chose.
Coming back to the word ‘lucid’, I notice that people are far less likely to notice a short yet uncommon word even if they would be hopeless to define it. Oh, and by the way, has anybody managed to use the word “defenestrate” in a non-pretentious manner? There’s a challenge for everybody in this thread.
Quoting is also mired by this social phenomenon. If you want to quote acceptably, make sure you don’t actually acknowledge its creator – any knowledge of its origins will show you to be the book reading, high-and-mighty monster you are.
Hmm… I dig up an ancient post and then manage to double post. Sorry about that… I suppose I got carried way with the search function.
I try to avoid saying, “I built my own 1920s Style Death Ray.”
“I am a member of the Straight Dope Message Board…”
…either that or 'cite?"
Or, even worse, “I am a charter member of the Straight Dope Message Board.” 
And, yeah, I tend to leave my Ph.D. out of casual conversation – thank god I watch TV…
Ditto. Heck, I even end up feeling embarrased where someone asks me where I studied.
You just answered your own question, featherlou.
Because when we hear “I don’t watch TV”, “I don’t eat fast food”, and “I don’t watch Hollywood movies”, what we hear appended is “because those things are for the screwed-up and dumbed-down”.
And, its just an American ethic. . .it’s like the scene with the “how you like them apples” guy in “Good Will Hunting”. It’s like the Sam Adams beer commercials. It’s why we like Rick instead of Victor Laszlo. It’s why Slash rules and Stevie Vai sucks.
It just is. And though I’m intelligent and well-educated, I prefer it that way.
My embarrassment about my alma mater isn’t based on snobbery but on popularity. I’m a Notre Dame grad and ND tends to be pretty popular for non-alumns to have logos on their clothing or something. And people seem to believe that I care about ND sports programs. So, that seems to crop up, someone asking me if I’m disappointed about the current season, etc.
I also find it uncomfortable to be an atheist grad of a Catholic university.