# What's The Most Pretentious Thing You Used To Do? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 8, 2015, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799 "2015-12-08T06:32:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DeepLiquid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deepliquid/32/14893_2.png) [@DeepLiquid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeepLiquid)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2015, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799/21 "2015-12-08T16:49:52Z")
Since we lived in Italy when I was a kid we didn’t have a TV (my folks didn’t understand Italian so they thought a TV was pointless) I read incessantly. This managed to give me the vocabulary of a college grad by age 12, I used this to be a pretentious as humanly possible up until about age 19… when I realized it was not helping me get laid at all. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2015, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799/22 "2015-12-08T16:53:15Z")
I wore a beat-up cowboy hat in college for a few months. I’m not from a region where that would make any sense at all. I carried a pocket watch for awhile, but maybe that’s not too bad. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2015, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799/23 "2015-12-08T16:55:11Z")
Back when I owned/wore ties, many were pretentious. I had a beautiful tie featuring a scanning electron microscope picture of gonorrhea, another with a representation of 5-[2-ethoxy-5-(4-methylpiperazin-1-ylsulfonyl)phenyl]-1- methyl-3-propyl-1,6-dihydro-7H-pyrazolo[4,3-d]pyrimidin-7-one (aka Viagra). ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2015, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799/24 "2015-12-08T17:04:28Z")
> [@edwardcoast](#): > > What’s up with the clove cigarettes? I don’t get the reference. Was some famous writer posed smoking them on a book cover? To the best of my knowledge & experience, pretentious people smoke them because they’ve seen other pretentious people smoking them so figure that clove cigarettes are part of the uniform. Plus, even back when a lot more people smoked, few people smoked cloves so you were “special” for that alone. Few people walked around with a mouthful of wasps as well but it’s all in the marketing. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2015, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799/25 "2015-12-08T17:07:31Z")
> [@edwardcoast](#): > > I’m curious, to be noticed by what kind of people? Hauntingly beautiful deep people who would say “I see that you’re reading The Diaries of Franz Kafka…” I was an art major in the early 90’s. I know how this pretentious fantasy works. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2015, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799/26 "2015-12-08T17:07:54Z")
Back in junior high school, when John Denver was big, I trained myself to say, “Far out” at every available opportunity. Even _ **I** _ think it got old fast. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2015, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799/27 "2015-12-08T17:14:49Z")
Back in high school/college, I trained myself to cross my 7’s and Z’s as “European”. Eventually I got a job where I was writing numbers constantly and couldn’t be bothered to do so any longer. I never needed to do it to prevent confusion, I only did it because I thought it was special and unique. Full disclosure: I still make closed-top 4’s. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2015, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799/28 "2015-12-08T17:26:33Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Good lord, so many things. Sigh. > > Remember Jack Black’s character in **High Fidelity**? The music store loser who was sneeringly condescending to customers whose taste he didn’t like? > > I had too much of that guy in me. I would try to find the perfect artist - music, art, actor, whatever - to _hate_ in order to disrupt people. “Renoir Sucks!” was a favorite (to be clear, I think there _is_ an argument to be made that Renoir was not at the same level as folks like Monet and Manet, but blurting out Renoir Sucks is not the way to have a thoughtful discussion). Hehehe, I figured out pretty quickly that I had bought and cherished far too many Styx and Yngwie Malmsteen records to compete in any discussion with you guys in the late 80’s. 😃 But, I did go to art school. I have been trained (somewhat) in criticism. “Renoir Sucks” is a perfectly valid statement, as long as you back it up with a “because” :). > [@WordMan](#): > > And yes, sometimes I made statements like this while wearing leather pants. To be clear: A man in the 2.6% of men who can make leather pants work is a badass. I am not one of those men. Hey, you dared to try them! Sometimes endeavor is its own reward. Hmmm… I used to dye my hair black. I still behaved like I did before and after (a barely literate fool), but that was an affectation. However, It was funny to have people in college come up to me and ask me how I bleached “just the roots”. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2015, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799/29 "2015-12-08T17:38:49Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > Hehehe, I figured out pretty quickly that I had bought and cherished far too many Styx and Yngwie Malmsteen records to compete in any discussion with you guys in the late 80’s. 😃 > > But, I did go to art school. I have been trained (somewhat) in criticism. “Renoir Sucks” is a perfectly valid statement, as long as you back it up with a “because” :). Dude, bless you. Seriously. But imagine some quasi _Friends_ social group hanging out and being 20-somethings and you trying to make some deep/obnoxious commentary. I was being jerk-ish, regardless of the validity of my assertion. (I finally saw some of his works at the Barnes collection - he was capable of some great work amidst the _bourgeois_ portraits). As for the leather pants, yeah, I tried those, bow ties, fancy cuff links, hats, etc. - different ways to have something “distinctive.” That’s one reason I look at the beards being sported today and kinda giggle. I can only imagine how I would’ve mangled that particular trend. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2015, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799/30 "2015-12-08T17:48:09Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Back in high school/college, I trained myself to cross my 7’s and Z’s as “European”. Eventually I got a job where I was writing numbers constantly and couldn’t be bothered to do so any longer. I never needed to do it to prevent confusion, I only did it because I thought it was special and unique. > > Full disclosure: I still make closed-top 4’s. Wait. I cross 7s because that’s how my third grade teacher taught me. Is that coming across as pretentious? ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2015, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799/31 "2015-12-08T17:57:22Z")
I just thought of another timely one. In high school, on the anniversary of John Lennon’s death (which is today), I would dress all in black and pretend to be completely forlorn (this was in the 90s, so I had had some time to come to terms with his death which happened when I was 4.) I get douche chills thinking about this now. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2015, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799/32 "2015-12-08T17:59:44Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > As for the leather pants, yeah, I tried those, bow ties, fancy cuff links, hats, etc. - different ways to have something “distinctive.” That’s one reason I look at the beards being sported today and kinda giggle. I can only imagine how I would’ve mangled that particular trend. Hehehe, I would have shown brilliantly if that was the trend when I was young (full beard in under two weeks!). But, I like being kissed, so a goatee it was and is. My persisting leather pretension is a biker jacket, even though I fell off my last motorcycle around 30 years ago. I still (just about exclusively) wear one, I have no idea what it says about me at this point. Screw it, they’re comfy. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2015, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799/33 "2015-12-08T18:07:14Z")
Various books I carried round school: Chinese philosophy, Che Guevara biography, Ulysses. At university I carried a plastic rose. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2015, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799/34 "2015-12-08T18:12:22Z")
> [@Fiveyearlurker](#): > > Wait. I cross 7s because that’s how my third grade teacher taught me. Is that coming across as pretentious? To be honest, I’ve never taken note of it in anyone else’s number writing. Which makes my attempt to be special with it doubly foolish. So I say “no” for you and “yes” for me. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2015, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799/35 "2015-12-08T18:20:40Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > To be honest, I’ve never taken note of it in anyone else’s number writing. Which makes my attempt to be special with it doubly foolish. So I say “no” for you and “yes” for me. Hehehe, you’re both cool, because I can’t be bothered to do it, and it looks neat. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2015, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799/36 "2015-12-08T18:28:48Z")
I don’t have any pretentious habits, and I never did. Regards, Shodan oops ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2015, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799/37 "2015-12-08T18:41:42Z")
Many aspiring young intellectuals go through a phase where they read Marx. Most stop after reading _The Communist Manifesto_. When I was 16, I decided that the Manifesto was for lightweights so I decided to read _Das Kapital_ instead. Conspicuously, while in school, for several goddamn months. ---
**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 8, 2015, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799/38 "2015-12-08T19:12:29Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Hauntingly beautiful deep people who would say “I see that you’re reading The Diaries of Franz Kafka…” > > I was an art major in the early 90’s. I know how this pretentious fantasy works. Very much that. yeah. I think the idea was that some pre-Raphaelite chick would stop, lay her hands upon my shoulders, gaze deeply into my eyes and murmur “You are so deep. Deep and troubled. Let’s have immediate sex”. ---
**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 8, 2015, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799/39 "2015-12-08T19:15:59Z")
Oh yeah, I used to wear two leather biker jackets, one of top of the other, because a William Gibson character did it. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2015, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799/40 "2015-12-08T19:16:29Z")
> [@Whiskey\_Dickens](#): > > Ignorance fought! Thank you for the info. > My most pretentious moment: Used to wear a sport coat to high school. To be fair it was a private school, but the only other student to wear one was my best friend. We did look a bit like the douche twins. I’ve done plenty of pretentious things. But while I frequently wore sports coats (sometimes even a suit) to class in high school and college, I didn’t and don’t perceive it as as such. I just liked the way a coat & tie felt and looked on me. Why else would I dress but to please myself? (And get chicks.) To answer the thread question, I used to read books like Pagels’ _The Origin of Satan_ in public just to annoy fundies and provoke them into making stupid assumptions. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799.md?page=3)