# 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:** 13\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2015, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799/141 "2015-12-12T16:10:13Z")
> [@Enola\_Straight](#): > > Has no-one mentioned wearing a monocle? Story, please. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2015, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799/142 "2015-12-13T14:38:03Z")
Pretentious? Moi? . . . . . . Can’t take credit for that. I think I heard it in a movie. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2015, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799/143 "2015-12-13T15:25:12Z")
> [@Enola\_Straight](#): > > Has no-one mentioned wearing a monocle? I’m so pretentious I wear a monocle in each eye. ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2015, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799/144 "2015-12-13T16:48:24Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > I don’t have any pretentious habits, and I never did. > > Regards, > Shodan > > oops I laughed ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2015, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799/145 "2015-12-13T16:56:15Z")
Oh my goodness, memories of 1982 - 1985 are flooding back. We carried snuff around in little silver snuffboxes. It was cool because we bought it at the only head shop/bookstore/clove cigarette store in Salt Lake City. Snuff is horrible stuff, but we gamely snuffed-and-sneezed as a reason for pulling out our little silver boxes. So European. In reading this thread I realized I began crossing my Zs and 7s sometime in high school as an affectation but it’s now so ingrained (30 years later) that I didn’t think of it until now. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2015, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799/146 "2015-12-13T17:00:33Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > In my early 20’s I smoked a pipe for a while. Yep. Early-20s pipe-smoker, me. Nowadays I wear a bow tie once a week. (And I get plenty of compliments, too; for the look, and because I tie them myself.) ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2015, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799/147 "2015-12-13T17:32:07Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > 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). You were just a little ahead of your time. There is now an active anti-Renoir movement at least in the Boston area and they recently [had a protest against his work being displayed in the Museum of Fine Arts](http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/oct/06/renoir-sucks-at-painting-protest-boston-max-geller) that included signs such as “reNOir” and “God Hates Renoir”. For the record, I am a Renoir apologist and plan to be on counter-protest side the next time they demonstrate. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2015, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799/148 "2015-12-13T18:18:55Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > You were just a little ahead of your time. There is now an active anti-Renoir movement at least in the Boston area and they recently [had a protest against his work being displayed in the Museum of Fine Arts](http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/oct/06/renoir-sucks-at-painting-protest-boston-max-geller) that included signs such as “reNOir” and “God Hates Renoir”. > > For the record, I am a Renoir apologist and plan to be on counter-protest side the next time they demonstrate. Yes, a couple of friends I am still in touch with from that era of my life - The Early Pretentious - pinged me about that with a chuckle. Reading about those protestors really drove home what a twit I was and that they are. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2015, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799/149 "2015-12-13T18:30:32Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > You were just a little ahead of your time. There is now an active anti-Renoir movement at least in the Boston area and they recently [had a protest against his work being displayed in the Museum of Fine Arts](http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/oct/06/renoir-sucks-at-painting-protest-boston-max-geller) that included signs such as “reNOir” and “God Hates Renoir”. > > For the record, I am a Renoir apologist and plan to be on counter-protest side the next time they demonstrate. Judging by the appearance of those Boston protesters, I’d say their sense of aesthetics is questionable at best. I am regarded as someone with a highly refined eye for fine art and I possess the aptitude to brilliantly critique the works of Master artists. In my not so humble opinion, Renoir is an artist of the highest caliber. Anyone who includes a lot of naked boobs in his paintings and they look somewhat symmetrical and squeezable, and not like [this](http://thenewinquiry.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/the-beheld_girl-in-front-of-mirror-1932-1.jpg)or [this](http://uploads1.wikiart.org/images/pablo-picasso/crouching-female-nude-1959.jpg) (warning NSFW), is a fine artist indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2015, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799/150 "2015-12-13T18:47:30Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Yes, a couple of friends I am still in touch with from that era of my life - The Early Pretentious - pinged me about that with a chuckle. Reading about those protestors really drove home what a twit I was and that they are. Don’t feel bad. I had (and still have) the same level of fiery hatred towards Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture that you and apparently many other have towards Renoir. I used to write about it regularly here until people got tired of reading it. That doesn’t mean the anger went away however. I just suppressed it outwardly. All of that was before social media became a real force though and I hadn’t even considered there are now much more powerful tools that can be used to remedy injustices. I bet I could get up a group to protest his architectural abominations all over the U.S. using social media. My ultimate goal is to have them all destroyed but you have to start small. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2015, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799/151 "2015-12-13T21:49:19Z")
😉 > [@Tibby or Not Tibby](#): > > Judging by the appearance of those Boston protesters, I’d say their sense of aesthetics is questionable at best. > > I am regarded as someone with a highly refined eye for fine art and I possess the aptitude to brilliantly critique the works of Master artists… Yeah, my mom thinks I am really smart, too.😉 ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2015, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799/152 "2015-12-13T22:16:51Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > 😉 > > Yeah, my mom thinks I am really smart, too.😉 Really??? She told me that, but I could have sworn she said something about “smarty pants” when your name come up…😉 ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2015, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799/153 "2015-12-14T13:31:27Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Don’t feel bad. I had (and still have) the same level of fiery hatred towards Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture that you and apparently many other have towards Renoir. I used to write about it regularly here until people got tired of reading it. That doesn’t mean the anger went away however. I just suppressed it outwardly. All of that was before social media became a real force though and I hadn’t even considered there are now much more powerful tools that can be used to remedy injustices. I bet I could get up a group to protest his architectural abominations all over the U.S. using social media. My ultimate goal is to have them all destroyed but you have to start small. I get that - but that is the point of this thread: All of us have art, music, etc. which is famous and generally respected but which we don’t like. Blurting out that they suck, or otherwise dismissing someone else’s enjoyment is what I finally realized added no value. Sounds like you are there, too. Good luck on your mission - I am a FLW fan, but appreciate your commitment. At least Falling Water appears to be structurally unsound! 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-pretentious-thing-you-used-to-do/739799.md?page=7)