Not sure if this will be as successful as the companion thread, but here goes.
By “precious” I guess I mean personal habits, monikers, speech patterns or what not that are just too cutsily self-aware, either in practice or in original inspiration. It probably bears some overlap with “pretentious,” though I’m thinking such things more frequently smack of some insincere self-depreciation.
For me, it’s: giving a name to your vehicle.
Giving yourself a nickname.
Wearing a hat.
Deliberately mispronouncing five dollar words.
Designating yourself and a couple of friends as “the ___ club/gang/posse”
Referring to family members as extensions of your message board user name, e.g., “Koxingalass” “Koxingaspouse,” “Koxingalad”
Yikes. I’ve been wearing hats for about thirty years now. Sorry.
But then again, I can think of several fashions (trendy and otherwise) that I find abhorrent and over the top.
Yikes again. I don’t use names here and making up a fake name would be weird. I stay with Mrs. Devil and the Dudeling as needed–preserves anonymity yet gets the point across.
But then again, I shudder when I see references to DH or DS (dear husband and dear son).
Is admitted wishy-washyness on your list?
I generall agree with this - that fashion for ‘pork-pie’ hats is cringeworthy. But I think that it’s reasonable for older/balding gents to wear them (I expect they’ve all breathed a sigh of relief to hear that).
Pictures of sleeping newborns/tiny babies dressed up in costumes or shopped to make it look like they are sleeping in a giant sunflower or something.
People that make their dogs/cats wear stupid costumes. Poor animals. Sweater in very cold weather for a little dog? Fine. Putting antlers on his head or a pirate costume? Gimme a break. Poor doggies.
Yeah, the designations of DH and DS and DD are much worse than the extension of your board name (like YoSaffKids). Some of those are kind of clever, IMO.
I can’t stand when people use cutsey versions of regular words, like sammies for sandwich. If you’re over 13, knock it off.
I have a friend that when someone says “Rob? Wait, who’s Rob?” we just say “Hipster fedora” and they inevitably say “Ohhhh, him!”
But it’d have to be a pretty “cute” hat to be “precious”. I’d call most hats “OK”, and the rare “Look at me!” hat “pretentious”. There is a thread going for that.
My contribution: most of what passes for conversation between high school girls: “And then he was like So? And I was like What. Ever. And then Ooooooh that is the cuuuutest baig! Ohohohmigahhhh I’ve got got to see that gimme that Oh, Jennifer Anderson, you find the adorablest stufffff!”
Yes, there’s a clique that calls each other by both names. To be “precious”. Come to think of it, they’d consider that epithet a compliment.
Personally, I think it’s just too precious when people make little lists of common, inoffensive behaviors and try to assign a label like “precious” to them.
Well, I haven’t named my vehicle, but the NAV system is called Bitching Betty. I even conditioned my family into finally calling it Betty (‘just plug the address into Betty’).
I actually hate the word “precious” when applied as a positive attribute to something other than minerals you can exchange for money.
It is particularly loathsome when applied to any behavior of a child though. There was a recent thread called something like “precious things children have said” and the phrasing set my teeth on edge.
It’s ok to use it ironically once in a while as an insult, as in the thread title. Don’t overdo it though, or you’ll hear from me!!!
