It wasn’t considered tacky, it was Simply Not Done. If you had to feed a baby in public, you fed it by bottle. Otherwise you would retire to a secluded place if you needed to nurse.
I think “tacky” speaks to social class. With that definition, I don’t think breast feeding in public is/was considered tacky so much as obscene. It’s becoming normalized now if done with some tact, but given the odd news story here and there, it seems there are still some who consider it an obscene activity that should not be seen by the light of day.
Ontario had to pass a law to prevent subdivisions and neighbourhoods from banning clotheslines, and as it is not retroactive, there are still areas where you cannot hang your laundry out to dry because it is considered unsightly. And while the municipalities cannot ban them, they can and do still regulate them.
I agree on the thrifty, could care less if my neighbours also hang out laundry and I love the smell of air dried clothes, but apparently not everyone shares the love.
I was going to mention this, along with the carrying around of a drink. Now everyone goes everywhere with their snacks and bottles, making me think of gigantic babies.
I actually like that things have relaxed so that we can toddle around in our jammies with our num-nums, but it’s a real contrast to those who remember stiffer, stricter times.
Online dating. It used to be the subject of jokes; it was implied that anyone who tried it must be unable to meet anyone in real life.
Miss Manners has fought for decades now against couples asking for cash as a gift on their wedding. She has always said it is incredible tacky to even expect a gift.
Even worse, asking for cash says: “I don’t trust your ability to pick a gift I’ll appreciate, so I’d rather just have the cash”. Rude rude rude.
Still, Miss Manners has lost that fight. Every wedding invitation I’ve seen in the last decade had: Gift suggestion: <envelope logo> printed at the bottom. Envelope meaning cash.
It would have been considered scandalous, not tacky.
Personal ads for dating.
In the pre-internet days, when personal ads were things one placed in newspapers or other periodicals, it was associated wtih pathetic desperation; I got some damn weird looks and comments when I spoke of having run one and having met the person I was with as a consequence of doing so.
Then for the first 20 years of internethood, a lot more people were doing it but folks still tended to disclaimer their participation by implying they were only doing it as a lark or because their best friend had conned them into it, they lost an election bet, etc. — “I’m not really so desperate that I’m doing this to get a date, I just wanted to see for myself what this was like”
Now people show their friends the OKCupid or Tinder photos that they’ve just seen. Normal.
ETA: curse you Little Nemo
The cake smashing to me is a sad event. The first display of trust in the marriage and someone thinks it is funny to fail at it.
There have been times and places where it was more tacky than scandalous–like sitting on a porch in Appalachia in the 1920s, or while working a field in the American south in the same era. The reason formula feeding became popular among middle-class families was to contrast with that sort of thing.
Porn - doing or watching it
Thrift store shopping
About wearing hats indoors.
Military standard is to take off the hat when indoors.
I wear a hat most of the time, there is a story as to why but lets skip it for now. At one time I always took my hat off when I went indoors. That meant when I went somewhere I got out of the car put my hat on. Walked to the building took my hat off and either set it down some where or carried it with me all over the place. Then when we left the building put my hat back on and walked to the car. Took my hat off and got into the car. I may as well left the hat home or in the car. Now most of the time I do not bother taking the hat off when I go inside. My exceptions when I go to into someone’s home, At church when I go into the sanctuary, when I sit down to eat, go into someone’s off, and on any job interview. At work I would wear a baseball cap with the company logo when it was a rainy day.
Selfies.
Whole body tattoos.
All the fashion related ones, to me, are still tacky. I can’t believe how some people dress.
I know cell phones in theaters and conducting business on them in public were mentioned but, really, smart phones in general. People think nothing these days of being at an event and spending half of it on Facebook, Twitter, texting, etc via their phone while essentially ignoring their surroundings. And, since everyone else is doing the same thing, they don’t get called on it.
Women drinking beer and women drinking beer from a bottle. Both were tacky. Once it was okay for women to drink beer (thanks, 1970’s), then it was still tacky to drink from the bottle.
Now, I go to banquets, Holiday parties, high-end weddings, quite formal events, and I see many female guests, the bride, and the women in the wedding party, just walking around well-dressed drinking beer from a bottle.
Was beyond tacky at one time.
.
Well, this is something I never knew existed until this thread. Thankfully, I’ve never actually seen it done. Terribly tacky, in any age, I would have thought.
Yeah. I’m thinking “normal” is not really the right label for non-tacky.
Case in point,
But she wasn’t wrong, still isn’t.
How about in a doctor’s office? A theater? Whenever you’re going to stay a while. Whenever you you don’t mean to appear to be on your way someplace more important.
That’s basically the principle for the tackiness of hats and coats indoors in social situations; it is a constant visual statement that you are not really there for that place or people, and will be getting back out the door ASAP.