# Things that used to be considered "high class" that are now tacky **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 1, 2015, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-used-to-be-considered-high-class-that-are-now-tacky/739121 "2015-12-01T16:50:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-used-to-be-considered-high-class-that-are-now-tacky/739121/61 "2015-12-02T02:03:08Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Wallpaper? In the 70’s/early 80’s it was in many higher end suburban homes. Heck, I remember how proud my family was of grasscloth wallpaper. > > Now, it’s a sign of pure tackiness Good wallpaper has regained some class cachet, because it is more labor-intensive than the cheap paint jobs production houses get. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-used-to-be-considered-high-class-that-are-now-tacky/739121/62 "2015-12-02T03:00:39Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > My father-in-law inherited, from an elderly neighbor, two sable stoles of the sort popular in the early twentieth century - that is, including the heads and claws of the animals. (The purpose, so far as I can tell, was to show that they weren’t fake. Pretty gruesome, I have to say.) > > He tried selling them, but, living as he does in the armpit of Florida, got no takers. So he sent them up here to us, to see if we could do better. My wife has tried just about every antique seller and vintage clothes dealer, and _nada._ Nobody is interested. Dunno if it’s the moral issue, or simple aesthetics, but it’s been almost a year and not a bite. If they are in extremely good shape, or at least LOOK like they’re in good shape, you might try theatre or TV/movie costume supply houses. I’m on my phone now, but there are two or three big ones that might be interested. Dunno how MUCH they’d offer you - but you might actually get a bite instead of radio silence. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-used-to-be-considered-high-class-that-are-now-tacky/739121/63 "2015-12-02T04:09:43Z")
A hound dog. Turned out it wasn’t true. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-used-to-be-considered-high-class-that-are-now-tacky/739121/64 "2015-12-02T04:11:55Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > \*I had not heard of the word _jaspé_ before. - Knock knock - Who’s there? - _Jaspé_ - \*Jaspé \*who? - _Jaspé_ at the counter. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-used-to-be-considered-high-class-that-are-now-tacky/739121/65 "2015-12-02T05:05:40Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > I personally cannot wait until asparagus gets low class and is no longer the vegetable of choice at fancy steak houses. Not that I go to fancy steak houses for vegetables in the first place. But then they will probably come up with something even worse. (I know, it’s hard to imagine.) Beets are headed in that direction. I happen to like them, but they do stain everything they contact, and in my case, that includes my innards for a couple days after I eat them. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-used-to-be-considered-high-class-that-are-now-tacky/739121/66 "2015-12-02T09:23:53Z")
Having anything too fancy in an inappropriate setting is lower-class. Being flash is lower-class. For example, the people who own the house next to the house we rent in Maine every summer run around in cut-offs and t-shirts 90% of the time. The women do not wear any visible makeup, and don’t fuss with their hair. They drive a 15-year old Volvo wagon and an old Jeep. Both are well-maintained and rust-free, but not flashy or washed unless it rains. However, they own a quarter-million-dollar house on the water and a completely and beautifully restored John Alden sailboat. They are friendly and nice to be around, but don’t boast or brag or act condescending. Understatement is key. I know where they live during the year, and it is an expensive area on the east coast. That is either old money, or they caught on damn quick. Contrast that to the group of women I saw in town (Damarascotta, a small town, not a city) one day wearing maxi-dresses, full makeup with false eyelashes, overly “done” hair, and high-heeled sandals. They might have money, but they didn’t get the memo that daytime in mid-coast Maine is not like Miami. These women spent a lot on their outfits, but they are wrong for the place and time. See the difference in class there? > [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > How about Florida in general? You can still class it up in Miami… No. No, you can’t. Miami is the mothership of tacky. _Florida_ is tacky and has never recovered class since it stopped being a winter playground for the wealthy. There are a lot of expensive things there, and a lot of people with money, but not a lot of really upper-class people. > [@](#): > > This is more England-specific, but to American eyes [much of the terminology used by rich English people](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_and_non-U_English) seems more low class these days. Granted, it’s more of the same - middle class people got all bourgeois and tried to ape “fancy talk.” That’s because in England it is lower-class to try to fancy things up, so they say “die” rather than “passed away”. Sadly, the upper-middles in the US are being swayed to ponce up perfectly good phrases to sound more caring. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-used-to-be-considered-high-class-that-are-now-tacky/739121/67 "2015-12-02T09:31:22Z")
One more example: Visible and obvious plastic surgery. Upper-class women here will have work done, but it will be very subtle. The face-lifts of the Joan Rivers era are not upper-class anymore because they are not cutting-edge. The overly-Botoxed, overly-filled, overly-plumped-lips, overly-“peeled” skin you see on women in the “housewives” shows and in some parts of the country is simply not what you see on well-to-do women of actual upper- or educated upper-middle-class where I live. You will see – or rather, not see – subtle treatments that make a woman look better, but not totally different. Women in those classes might get a little Botox to smooth out wrinkles, but they can move their foreheads. They might get a brow lift or neck lift, but not a full face-lift. They might get some injected filler to fill in marionette lines on the face, or to plump up lips gone thinner with age, but you will not see them lips plumped up to the size of tires. They will eat a healthy diet and exercise rather than trying to have the effects of a bad diet and cigarettes and such removed via “peels” or other treatments. They spend money to keep their skin looking good, but don’t expect to look 25 their entire lives. They might get a boob lift at some point, but they won’t get giant tits. ---
**Author:** ![Sodalite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@Sodalite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sodalite)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-used-to-be-considered-high-class-that-are-now-tacky/739121/68 "2015-12-02T12:10:07Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > My father-in-law inherited, from an elderly neighbor, two sable stoles of the sort popular in the early twentieth century - that is, including the heads and claws of the animals. (The purpose, so far as I can tell, was to show that they weren’t fake. Pretty gruesome, I have to say.) > > He tried selling them, but, living as he does in the armpit of Florida, got no takers. So he sent them up here to us, to see if we could do better. My wife has tried just about every antique seller and vintage clothes dealer, and _nada._ Nobody is interested. Dunno if it’s the moral issue, or simple aesthetics, but it’s been almost a year and not a bite. My friend owns a consignment shop and he’s had an old style mink shrug there for about a year. Every time I go in I ask if he’s sold the nasty chain of angry dead weasels yet. I know an older woman who refused to get rid of her furs “just to be PC”. She finally ditched them last year when her grandson found them in the closet and started screaming and crying. “The poor ferrets!!! Did they get runned over by a car?!” When she told him that she used to wear them he was horrified. He started calling her Cruella DeVille. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-used-to-be-considered-high-class-that-are-now-tacky/739121/69 "2015-12-02T13:01:00Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > I don’t think the Walmart shopper has a concept of tacky. The objection to thrift stores is that the stuff is not “brand new.” Everyone has a sense of dignity and appropriateness. Even poor people. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-used-to-be-considered-high-class-that-are-now-tacky/739121/70 "2015-12-02T14:20:37Z")
> [@GrumpyBunny](#): > > However, they own a quarter-million-dollar house on the water Would that not be an astronomically cheap waterfront home? Like a shanty or shack or something along those lines? $250,000 doesn’t buy you very much house anywhere, and I can’t imagine that a beachfront Maine house would be very big or nice for such a small amount. And the plastic surgery thing; at least here in Texas, it seems to be very dependent on the crowd. Actual rich people? Usually fairly subtle, although it’s not totally uncommon to read the society pages of the paper and see some late-50s socialite with a big fake chest. But there’s definitely a sort of nouveau-riche crowd that lives in the tony suburbs that tends to go all-in on the suburban trophy bimbo-milf look- bleached hair, lots of gym time, big fake boobs, revealing clothes, etc… Great for an aging porn star, but not really what I imagine most teenagers want their mothers (or step-mothers) to look like. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-used-to-be-considered-high-class-that-are-now-tacky/739121/71 "2015-12-02T14:42:37Z")
> [@Lasciel](#): > > If they are in extremely good shape, or at least LOOK like they’re in good shape, you might try theatre or TV/movie costume supply houses. I’m on my phone now, but there are two or three big ones that might be interested. Dunno how MUCH they’d offer you - but you might actually get a bite instead of radio silence. Excellent suggestion! We will certainly try that! Thanks for the tip! ---
**Author:** ![botsgotme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@botsgotme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/botsgotme)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-used-to-be-considered-high-class-that-are-now-tacky/739121/72 "2015-12-02T15:54:53Z")
Mercedes-Benz “S” class sedans. Around here, only drug dealers and Noveau Rich types drive them. the “old money” crowd here (New England) drives older Chevy sedans. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-used-to-be-considered-high-class-that-are-now-tacky/739121/73 "2015-12-02T17:28:09Z")
> [@Sodalite](#): > > My friend owns a consignment shop and he’s had an old style mink shrug there for about a year. Every time I go in I ask if he’s sold the nasty chain of angry dead weasels yet. One of my high school teachers had a mink stole like that, and one day she brought it in. (I don’t remember why.) It was seriously creepy. I can’t imagine wanting to wear such a thing, even for a second. If you were making a horror movie set deep in the Rocky Mountains, and the bad guy was some kind of demented cannibal recluse, this thing would look perfect on him. Yet there was a time when that stole was the pinnacle of fashion. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-used-to-be-considered-high-class-that-are-now-tacky/739121/74 "2015-12-02T17:54:11Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Would that not be an astronomically cheap waterfront home? Like a shanty or shack or something along those lines? $250,000 doesn’t buy you very much house anywhere, and I can’t imagine that a beachfront Maine house would be very big or nice for such a small amount. I also noticed the small price, but it seems from the post that it is a vacation home, their other home presumably being worth more. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-used-to-be-considered-high-class-that-are-now-tacky/739121/75 "2015-12-02T18:16:13Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > Everyone has a sense of dignity and appropriateness. Even poor people. Poor people in general have no less of it than others, and may prize it more, having so little else. But come on, obviously not _everyone_ has dignity. In any case, dignity is not really the opposite of tackiness. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-used-to-be-considered-high-class-that-are-now-tacky/739121/76 "2015-12-02T18:39:08Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > Poor people in general have no less of it than others, and may prize it more, having so little else. But come on, obviously not _everyone_ has dignity. > > In any case, dignity is not really the opposite of tackiness. Dismissing people who shop at Wal-Mart as having no sense of things being tacky strikes me as really dismissive of poor people. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-used-to-be-considered-high-class-that-are-now-tacky/739121/77 "2015-12-02T18:54:06Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Wallpaper? In the 70’s/early 80’s it was in many higher end suburban homes. Heck, I remember how proud my family was of grasscloth wallpaper. > > Now, it’s a sign of pure tackiness It’s back. A judicious use of wallpaper as an accent. For example, one wall in a bedroom. Very popular in high end homes these days. Master baths with tubs set in large decks, often with steps leading up to them. Now, everyone wants free-standing tubs that cost $4k - $6k just for the tub. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-used-to-be-considered-high-class-that-are-now-tacky/739121/78 "2015-12-02T19:05:53Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > Dismissing people who shop at Wal-Mart as having no sense of things being tacky strikes me as really dismissive of poor people. Well, you misread me. First, I believe my posting history would establish me as sympathetic to poor people, wherever that has been relevant, should anyone care to look. Second, the set of poor people is not congruent with the set of Walmart shoppers. Third, Walmart is loaded with brand-new tacky crapola. A very discerning person may be able to go there sometimes without partaking, but they are clearly selling mountains of it. ---
**Author:** ![BeeGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@BeeGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeeGee)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2015, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-used-to-be-considered-high-class-that-are-now-tacky/739121/79 "2015-12-02T19:12:15Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Aluminium cutlery was all the rage among the rich in the 19th century (Napoleon III had a set made for state dinners); it used to cost more than _gold_ cutlery. [Gelatin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelatin_dessert) used to be an exotic dessert choice because of how difficult and labour intensive it was to prepare. I was thinking of gelatin desserts, but more because it meant you probably had a refrigerator instead of an icebox. For the record, this WalMart shopper has a pretty good grasp on tacky. Of course, that meant going to a WalMart and checking it out for myself instead of just believing all the sterotypes and mean-spirited websites. But then, I’ve always believed that pretentiousness is the epitome of tacky. The produce in my local WalMart is some of the best in town, including Whole Foods. ---
**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 2, 2015, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-used-to-be-considered-high-class-that-are-now-tacky/739121/80 "2015-12-02T19:18:18Z")
Swarovski Crystals. Once, they were the “Oohs and Ahhs” of the Overpriced-Mall scene. Now, its like, “…you wiped your ass, you stuck shit to it and now want me to look? What the hell do you want…? Applause!?” Also, ANYTHING that is “the latest trend” in diamonds. Seriously, you know that that rock on your finger was pulled out of the ass of some miner who was on the ground, bleeding, and begging for his life, right? It should be part of the “Please, Boss…! I won’t do it again! Please don’t cut off my hands… Please Boss…!” collection. “Chocolate” diamonds are the most common grade of diamonds ftr. > [@](#): > > [“Chocolate” diamonds are just brown diamonds. And brown diamonds are the most common kind of diamonds. There are tons of them. Tons."](http://jezebel.com/the-truth-about-chocolate-diamonds-5887100?trending_test_two_f&utm_expid=66866090-68.hhyw_lmCRuCTCg0I2RHHtw.5&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F) And those silly diamond chips-on-spinners? Are they for women who are just too stupid Not to say, “[Oooh…! Shiney…](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSzR6P6SgRs)”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-used-to-be-considered-high-class-that-are-now-tacky/739121.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-used-to-be-considered-high-class-that-are-now-tacky/739121.md?page=5)