Open Thread: What Are You a Snob About?
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If you read our post earlier this week about brain candy books and other fun summer reads, you probably had one of three responses: (1) “Hmm, I should check out some of these,” or (2) “Eh, not my type of book,” … OR (3) “Ugh, why does anyone read those kinds of books, anyway?” Some of us are just book snobs — and all of us are snobs about something or other, right? We thought general snobbery would be a fun topic for a open thread on the day after a disorienting middle-of-the-week holiday, so here's the question:
What ARE you a snob about — and what are you decidedly NOT snobby about? Did you used to have things in the first category that, over time, moved into the second category? How about vice versa — have you gotten more snobby about anything as you've gotten older and wiser?
Earlier this year, we got almost 100 comments on our “What are you drinking in 2018?” open thread, so clearly many readers are very discerning about wine, cocktails, and so on — and Kat readily admits that she's a gin snob. (She wrote that book post, so she's obviously an equal-opportunity reader; she also notes that she generally prefers simple Folgers coffee rather than fancy stuff.)
So let's hear it, ladies: What are YOU a snob about? Clothes, bags, jewelry, or shoes? Makeup and skincare? Food, restaurants, cookware? Wine, tea, coffee? Music, books, TV, movies? Home decor? (Just in case it needs to be said, there are no right answers here! We just thought it would be interesting to hear your thoughts on what purchases are worth the splurge and what aren't…)
To me, the most interesting aspect of this is what you once were snobby about but eventually became more open-minded about. I used to be a book snob (hey, I was an English major, so it came easily), but not anymore — today I read everything from literary nonfiction about little-known historical events to “contemporary romance.” I also used to be a music snob — and the same thing happened for me with movies. I used to see most of my movies at an independent theater, and those films were definitely not going to become blockbusters. In 2015, in a “regular” theater, I saw the trailer for Captain America: Civil War, and my reaction was, “Another superhero movie?! There are SO many superhero movies!” Well, since then, I have become something of a Marvel geek and so far have 13 movies and 6 TV series under my belt (ha, not a superhero belt, just a regular one). I have to say, I kinda get chills when I'm sitting in the movie theater and hear the Avengers theme. (Grammar, though? I think I'll always be a grammar snob.)
What about you? What have you always been a snob about, either outwardly or secretly? What did you USED to be a snob about but no longer are — and what made you change your thinking? What are your guilty pleasures regarding food, Netflix binges, and so on?
Picture via Stencil.
Wine, for sure. One of my petty pet peeves is when someone tries to tell me about this great wine they found for $6.99 at Walgreens. No, it isn’t great and I don’t want to try it. I don’t want your rose and I really don’t want your frose or froze or whatever. The fact that I don’t order a glass of wine at a restuarant or bar or drink “wedding wine” doesn’t mean I don’t like wine.
Also? I don’t want a bottle of wine from the local winery, unless you live in, say, Calistoga or St. Helena. Or pear or apple wine.
I guess I am too. We had a Total Wine open nearby, and I went crazy on some of the sub-$7 ones which was a mistake, and now I have 4 bottles in the fridge of basically water.
I went to Total Wine an dbought a 15 dollar bottle of French white for my birthday. It was corked. I used it for cooking. I’ll stick with Trader Joe’s.
Frose is amazing, you’re missing out.
Seriously!!
I’ve had terrible frose, and I’ve had AMAZING frose.
Yeah, I’m a wine snob, but I had some frose over the weekend – fresh local strawberries, decent gin, and, of course, rose – that was delicious and also only $7 a glass.
Also, good rose does exist. Like any other type of wine, there’s good and bad. Except for white zinfandel, that’s just a no.
Ha, more of that stuff for me then! My wine snobbery only goes so far as to exclude Sutter Home, Barefoot, and Yellow Tail, and just about anything from a box. But I love rose, and most wines I buy are under $15, occasionally I’ll splurge on a bottle of Freakshow or Educated Guess.
Box wine is getting so good though! Black Box is better than Barefoot imo.
I love good wine but some of the Bota Boxes are legit.
Definitely wine for me too. I think it may have showed on my face when my friend asked me to pick out “a really, really nice bottle of red, and I think they like Cabernet best” as a host gift — for under $25.
I don’t look down on people who enjoy every kind of wine, though, and my house white is Marlborough Sauv. Blanc for around $11. I’m just not going to drink $15 cab. Or even pinot.
Movies.
Coffee – Intelligentsia Black Cat alllllll the way.
SB is swill, IMO
I wish I could discern coffee. What would you recommend as maybe gateway coffee we could try, and which ones to graduate to?
Starbuck’s always tastes burned to me.
I like good coffee at home but I don’t really “do” coffee other than that. We have Folger’s and a Mr. Coffee at work and it’s fine. It delivers the caffeine, which is really all that matters.
Good to know other people feel this way. Starbucks cafes often have a burnt smell inside that makes me want to retch.
Also, I am a maple syrup snob. I only eat the real thing, but don’t have a strong preference between the different types otherwise.
I’m a Canadian who won’t order pancakes in the US if they don’t have real maple syrup!
Yup.
Yay, me too!!!!! I absoluteley refuse to have any pancakes, french toast or waffels unless they have the REAL maple syrup from Vermont or Canada. I have been to fancy hotels where they do NOT have the real stuff, and I say FOOEY, give me scrambeled e’ggs then. I have just about had it when I am asked to pay $30 for pancakes and they come out with cheap store syrup like Ant Jemima or something worse yet. It is all sugar syrup, full of high furcktose corn syrup. Thank you, but NOT for me. If I am goeing to have the calories and have to work them off my tuchus, it has to be pure 100% maple syrup. YAY!!!!!!
Haha my son and I will only eat real maple syrup. My husband and daughter will only eat Mrs B’s.
And OMG rum or bourbon barrel aged maple syrup . . .
I think they burn it on purpose. It’s the flavor they’re going for. That’s the only explanation I have for why it’s so consistently burned in every SB I’ve been to on 4 continents. It’s definitely not to my taste.
I’ve heard that it’s for quality control. It’s the only way to make crops harvested at different times and in different places taste exactly the same all the time, which is what the customer expects.
It really bothers me when people say that Starbucks is awful but that Dunkin Donuts is amazing. Ack, no it’s not, it’s even worse! I would never say that to anyone, though.
I hate Starbucks and love Dunkin. But I don’t consider myself a coffee snob, just someone who hates Sbux.
I definitely prefer Dunkin Donuts coffee to Starbucks. I think it tastes much better. McDonald’s too.
Dunkin Donuts isn’t exactly artisanal, but at least it’s not burned.
I don’t really consider myself a snob about coffee but I don’t like Starbucks so maybe I am.
Coffee for me for sure. I’m always on the hunt for good specialty coffee!
You thought snobbery would be a fun topic for this group? Yikes. Considering how catty this group can be on a regular basis, this seems dangerous.
That said, I guess I’m a movie and TV snob. I hate slapstick comedy, all reality TV, etc.
I like my 8.99 bottle of wine though.
All inclusive resorts. Just. No.
Oooh, that’s a good one! I have family members that love going to those resorts. They try to get my family to go every year at Christmas and it’s just like… no. When I travel I want to actually leave the place I’m staying!
So, wait, are we saying what we are snobs about–meaning, very pro and very particular about (see coffee and wine above)–or are we just saying things we judge other people for? I am genuinely lost.
AI and other kinds of travel can co-exist and serve different purposes to different people, right?
Yes, there’s a huge difference! You can have high standards for what you personally enjoy, and be honest about what you don’t like, without looking down on other people for what they like.
We are saying what we are snobby about. Literally that’s the title of the post. I am snobby about travel. I look down on all inclusives.
I put different kinds of travel in different categories for snob purposes. DH and I discern between trips and vacations. We are trip snobs. Marrakech yes; Vegas no. Vacations are for relaxing. We are big fans of suitably luxurious AI’s for vacation. We are getting snobby about our usual AI resort though as it seems that while the accommodations, grounds and service are still excellent, the crowd seems to be heading toward crass adult spring break power drinking crap. Not always but often enough to take the shine off. So guess I’m snobby about my fellow guests at AI.
Yep. And cruises. I’m a snob about them not in the sense that I judge people who go to them, but that I would never go to one myself.
OMG yes. I went on one. Which is exactly the number I need.
Exception for higher-end European river cruises, because want.
Note on higher-end Euro river cruises – not sure how old you are, but some friends went on one for their honeymoon a few years ago, and were the youngest people on the boat by about 40 years. Apparently the staff felt really bad for them, and would show them where to go out and what to do to escape the olds. ;)
This is true, but not necessarily bad, depending on your personality. My husband and I went on a European river cruise several years after we were married and were the youngest on the boat by 30-40 years. But we wanted to do our own thing off the boat anyway and we had different people constantly inviting us to sit at their dinner tables (open seating) because they were kind of fascinated that two young’uns were on the trip! We talked with some really interesting people with great life stories!
Oh for sure, but that tidbit is something that I’d personally want to know in advance. My friends didn’t, and while they had a good time, it was maybe not quite the trip they had in mind. YMMV!
Definitely the case for The Hubs and I on our honeymoon barge cruise in France, but we were warned about the Olds and they were a hoot. They kept asking if The Hubs and I were going to take a “nap” in the afternoons and were very disappointed when we explained we had been living together for three years before the wedding and planned to spend the afternoons biking alongside the barge/drinking wine/eating cheese/sightseeing.
We have nice seats at the theater and are absolute whippersnappers in that crowd. They are OLD. Walker and oxygen tank OLD.
These are quality productions of award winning plays featuring big name actors. And the theater is half empty on a Saturday night. It’s ridiculous that no one in our town appreciates it.
Tea! I only drink certain kinds of loose leaf. Towels, sheets, linens in general – I try to buy the best quality I can afford. Jewelry – I rarely wear costume jewelry, I’d rather wear my few good pieces than spend money on junkier stuff. Same with bags. I’m not carrying Chanel or anything (one day!) but I’d rather buy one good quality real leather bag a year than lots of cheap bags.
I’m also a former English major and huge Marvel movie geek. :)
I should add skincare and makeup to that list as well. I’m more of a snob than I realized….oops.
We are twins!
Mine are: jewelry, grammar, skincare, handbags, wine, and I would say linens and cashmere. To be fair, a lot of it is informed by my background – wine business on my side, jewelry business on my husband’s side, and a few years working as a journalist for me.
Anon, I salute you!
Bar the Marvel thing, we are exactly the same. I own a grand total of 5 bags including 2 pochettes for events or small errands. Very particular about my skincare, that is what 20 years of battling all kinds of acne will do to you. I invest in quality linens and towels. I made it a rule to eat from bone China because in my culture most families have sets of china and linens and towels for guest use only and I decided years ago that as I grown up, I deserved to be a guest in my house.
I have a special tea cupboard will all the accessories but I don’t care for coffee or wine.
I have 10 pieces of jewelry but they are all solid gold (again cultural thing) and real gemstones, though no diamonds.
Everything. I prefer to think of it as particular . . .
+1
Beer. I only like our local brewery, expensive stuff. I will drink a cheap bottle of wine just fine, but not cheap beer.
I am also a snob about hotels. I will find cheap flights at crappy times on Southwest, but I won’t stay at cheap hotels.
Dress Codes and standards of attire. The combination of being in the army and my old fashioned mother means that my family is always over-dressed compared to most people. I am perfectly comfortable with it and happy to immerse myself in the fine details.
Oh, that’s me, too. As a friend of mine once said, “I’m almost always the most dressed-up person in the room and I’m okay with that.”
Bless you both. I wish this would come back. It ruins a night out and I’m amazed at what people will wear to a restaurant.
Same. My teen daughter just told me that her friends are intimated by me because I’m always so “put together.”
For those of you who don’t have teen daughters yet, having their friends feel slightly intimidated is a good thing.
YOU ARE MY PEOPLE
+1 hive five!
THIS THIS THIS. My partner and I recently celebrated our anniversary and went out to dinner at a very fancy restaurant. We’d both been looking forward to the chance to dress up for each other and indulge with a nice meal and an elegant evening. I wore a LBD with heels and sparkly studs that my partner gave me for Christmas. The restaurant itself was lovely, the food was good, and overall we had a good experience, but we looked SO overdressed! Keep in mind, this was a linen tablecloth, crystal glasses, waiters in tuxes kind of place. There was a young woman in shorts. A guy at another table was wearing jeans and a polo. Where has the understanding of dressing to fit where you are gone?
Yes, it’s about respect. I wouldn’t even go to a local hole-in-the-wall or immigrant-owned (not sure the correct term). These people struggle and work long hard hours, have to adapt to our culture (for instance a Muslim-owned restaurant we frequent serving alcohol) so to treat it very casually and dress down seems insulting.
My husband and I walked into a nice restaurant the other week, and the hostess gave us a big smile and said, “Wow! You’re dressed for dinner!” These folks put so much into their craft – I think it’s borderline disrespectful to show up in flip flops when they are going all out.
Oh yes this!
Education. Doesn’t matter if it’s all you cold afford, had a full ride, or graduated #1 at Penn State, to me any grad of an ivy or Stanford/MIT/Chicago stands out above any stare school grad. Doesn’t matter how many stories I’m told about your neighbor Biff Jr who was dumb as a rock but Biff Sr bought his way into Princeton.
Wow, really? I have a super fancy educational pedigree and I feel exactly the opposite.
Yup. I went to one of the prestige schools you listed and feel like my parents flushed $250k down the toilet.
Yes, same here, and increasingly so given the cost of college relative to what it was 30 years ago.
If you are a 20-something with a degree from an elite school, I will assume that your family has a lot of money, or that you qualified for need-based financial aid – because no one else is able to attend those schools any longer.
Yikes.
I am at the point where I won’t hire any Stanford grads because several people I have worked with from there have been terrible employees, while all the state school grads (Kansas, Michigan, CA) have been wonderful, I will pick them over Stanford grad any day.
Same.
Exactly.
You’re gross. I know so many coddled pretentious a-holes from school who can’t hold a candle to folks who went to good state schools.
– Ivy grad.
They may be coddled but it says Brown or MIT or Penn next to their names, not Rutgers or Penn State. They’ve been achieving since they were kids in really obvious ways.
blugh. this is so incorrect and wrong on so many levels.
So, so wrong. It means they had wealthy parents who could buy them SAT prep classes and give them an allowance so they could do science summer camps instead of working at McDonalds. I went to an Ivy, fwiw.
So let’s punish them because their parents face $$$?
No? I didn’t say anything about punishing wealthy Harvard grads, just that I don’t think they are inherently smarter or harder working than someone who did very well at a state school.
They haven’t actually achieved (aka earned) anything, though. They were born on third base, they didn’t hit a home run.
Right they never got straight As or won awards at school or anything. It was merely mom and dads $$ that buys EVERYONE’S way into an ivy. You’re gross. Just because people are born upper middle class and go to good districts doesn’t mean they don’t need to beat out 390 other kids in a 400 person high school class to even be looked at by an ivy.
They’ve been tremendously privileged since they were kids.
^^^fixed that for you.
I think this is one of the ones people don’t admit but it is impactful nonetheless. I’ve now seen it in more than one workplace — ivy resumes just get a bit of benefit of the doubt that they often don’t deserve while state schools just don’t. I’m not talking recent grads, I’m talking 15+ years out of school. It’s not obvious but ivy resumes sometimes get pushed forward even if there’s some gaps or missing experience, while state school resumes don’t get pushed forward unless they meet every single requirement. Or maybe I’ve just worked with the only 3 major employers in the US like this.
I think it’s a subconscious way of making sure wealth stays concentrated in a certain socioeconomic class — the 9.9% if you read the Atlantic article. Sure each year there are more and more people going to the Ivys for free because their parents make less than 60k etc, but reality is still that statistically most kids at those schools are the kids of doctors/lawyers/bankers; and lots of kids qualified for those schools who could even go for free don’t apply because they don’t know where to start/don’t think they can make it. By hiring people with those degrees on their resume, you are more likely than not hiring people of that socioeconomic class and while people don’t say it, many do prefer to hire people like themselves — not just race but socioeconomically.
+1
Totally agree with this. It’s like people are risk adverse and it’s “well, so he was a freak; it’s not like we expected that from [Yale, Harvard, etc.]” vs “he was an underperformer; I guess what’s you get when you hire from [non-HYP school]
I mean, you could set a friend up with someone who drools and picks his nose but if you say “but he has an MBA from Wharton,” they might actually go on a date.
I had a client once that went to University of Maryland Eastern Shore. I don’t know who recruits from there, but somehow she got a job at an investment bank. She was smart and on the ball and I am so glad her blue chip form took an obvious chance and gave her a chance. No family connections — first-generation college student. You never know where you’ll find the great ones.
But why is anyone going to take a chance to find the one perfect grad from Eastern Shore (lol) when Wharton produces 400 per year and 399 of them can do the job and not drool?
Yes, because the POTUS is such an impressive Wharton grad.
And that dude from Harvard Law who sexually harassed colleagues in my firm and was dismissed – he was a real prize.
I think it depends on your field. I work at a big corporation and I think state schools have the edge here, just because so many employees have gone to state schools and we recruit there. People like to hire people like themselves. Ivy degree can make you seem smart but there’s also a perception that people with them can be pretentious and unlikeable, even if they’re not.
+1
Yes, there is so much school snobbery at employers. People automatically assume that because someone went to an ivy league school, he or she is automatically better even if there are glaring red flags on the resume. We have hired ivy league grads like that and they have all been duds.
This idea that the person who goes to an ivy league “has been achieving all of his or her life” is ridiculous. There are a lot of high achieving students that don’t go to ivy leagues because their parents can’t afford it, are middle class so don’t get income-based scholarships, and the ivy league school’s don’t give out merit-based scholarships. Why should a person be punished because his or her parents are not rich?
Not to mention that I have worked with a number of ivy league grads and while they may do well on tests or in schools, they don’t always do very well performing in the real world and often act entitled. There is a lot more to being a good employee that has nothing to do with getting good grades in school.
I don’t think anyone is denying that an Ivy on the resume can often be a boost in hiring – the real issue is whether you think that boost is deserved, e.g. actually leads to hiring better employees. Of course there is a good chance that a given Ivy grad is very scholastically intelligent relative to graduates of other colleges, but there is also a good chance that same person would have gone to a non-Ivy but for wealthy parents paving the way. In my experience, the pattern seems to be that Ivy students *are* very intelligent for the most part, but they are the most intelligent of the upper socioeconomic group, almost exclusively. And in my anecdotal experience, they really really care about going to an Ivy, either because of family or school pressure. Career success is tied to so many factors unrelated to good grades in high school or caring a lot about the Ivy league – emotional intelligence, interest and passion for that particular role or company, hands-on experience, and of course, grit.
Being “snobby” about education is very problematic because it is so entwined with socioeconomic (and therefore racial) privilege. It’s fine to respect an Ivy degree, but making gross generalizations about graduates’ overall intelligence just makes one look like an out-of-touch idiot. Companies (and judges, and grad schools) are deferential to Ivy grads simply because they can be, and because (as was already pointed out here) people hire people like themselves because that is more comfortable. It’s cute to be snobby about wine, TV shows, dog breeds, whatever (as long as you’re not being rude to people). Being snobby about educational backgrounds is harmful and perpetuates systemic power, privilege, and racism. It’s pretty much the same as being snobby about people who don’t have money. Gross.
Yeah, I’m not ivy educated but I do agree. I work at a place that only recruits from top schools, and the logic is that’s hen you go to the tops schools, the bar of “can they do the work” is already met, but the question is more of fit. On balance, going to a good state school you can *absolutely* find equal or better talent, but you have to weed through those that can do the work vs not. And that second option takes more effort.
Wow.
I agree that having top ranked school can help get you through the door but that does not mean that people who did not go to a top ranked school are not capable.
+1 I went to a highly ranked state school and all of my colleagues went to Ivy’s. I ended up in the same role and do the same quality of work and paid a lot less :) I paid $2,000 from undergrad through my PhD and leveraged my lack of student loans to buy an apartment. Super proud of my (fully) public education.
Highly ranked state school LOL. Because that makes it better.
Well, it does. If you think there are no differences across the hundreds of state schools… I’m doubting the benefits of that Ivy education.
I think it also depends on the field. Back in the day, the University of Illinois (Champaign-Urbana) engineering school regularly switched back and forth with MIT for top honors. In my field (genomics), yes, Harvard and MIT are awesome (not sure about Yale), but places like Washington University, Vanderbilt, University of Michigan, and USC are also major, major players, and anyone going there would get a great education.
Here’s my snobbery at play.
It’s “Ivies.”
No apostrophe.
Am a language snob – try not to let it affect my actions IRL.
I got into two expensive name brand schools but couldn’t make the numbers work. State school was a good deal for the B.S. and I had fellowships and assistantships that funded a name brand graduate program. DH is Ivy-educated and I think people are in fact impressed by that; however, we have similar jobs and similar earnings.
There are many state schools which are highly regarded enough in my area that I would hire any of their graduates. I have also hired excellent staff from small programs at less well known universities, and even (gasp) for-profit universities, that consistently put out excellent graduates in niche sub-fields of expertise.
This may be true if you live in a major metro area. I graduated HYP undergrad, however, and found that did not help me as much as my grad school did while living in the state from which I graduated grad school. No one really knew anyone who went to HYP, but they all knew someone who went to Penn State (not actual school), and the alumni network was strong.
You’re not an education snob; you’re just a snob.
This is proof that while education, money and hard work can fix a lot of things, they can’t fix stupid.
I’m a reality snob. So, no Fox News, no presidential tweets, etc.
Beyond that, I’m not a snob in the sense of looking down on other people for not having the same taste as I do. But I like my house to be fancy and I like to travel as comfortably as I can.
Guilty pleasures are many and include much trashy TV, chick lit, and chili-flavored Maruchen ramen.
My sweet husband is a cyclist and he is impossibly snobby about all thing relating to bicycles. It cracks me up.
Girllllllll
Yep, same. I’m a total snob for facts.
As someone still single and dating at 29, I do not understand why people care so much about music taste. I love music, but why on earth I would limit myself to one genre to impress others is beyond me. Especially considering you can draw a clear line musically between early music recordings and modern music– it seems odd to me that people wouldn’t love both ends and everything in between!
I think it’s totally fair to prefer some genres over others, and not enjoy certain genres at all, as long as you’re not a jerk about it.
As someone single and dating at 33, I am so over guys telling me my taste is music is bad or basic.
Wow, rude!
The guys I mean!
If a person actually reads a newspaper, I think that that is such a plus.
If a person never reads a newspaper, I feel like they are just so . . . ill-informed about the world. A regular newspaper reader is special.
I had a neighbor who would read our regional daily, Newsday and then the Sunday Times. I had a job to go to the corner store and buy them (they’d hold them to the side for her) and bring them back. She knew all of The Things.
Now, everyone lives in an echo chamber and no one who knows world events knows a d*mn thing about local zoning meets, how your school budget is looking, or the airport’s expansion or what major local companies are doing (let alone their stock price). Or vice versa.
Some of us don’t care about zoning or school board. And what does an actual newspaper have to do with it – it’s not 1970.
Zoning is as important today as in 1970!! And even if you are not a parent (I’m not) having forward thinking honest school board members is vital to your community. Local events and government continue to be covered in local papers. I must say I do not read everyday, but at least once a week.
You can’t talk about solving homelessness without also talking about the actions of the zoning board.
??? I read my local news, but I read about it online because it’s 2018.
Cocktails. My husband is an amateur mixologist and I’ve gotten spoiled with the various fancy drinks he makes at home. When we travel, like to visit fancy craft cocktail bars.
I am the opposite kind of snob. I feel like craft cocktail bars are just ridiculous rip-offs meant to separate high taste wannabes from their cash.
Absolutely! But I will happily travel with cat socks to find the fancy cocktails.
I figure if I am going to expend dollars and calories on drinking, it had better be good. I get a huge kick out of fancy cocktails made with hand-sourced rutabagas and fairy tears, but I realize it is all a little ridiculous.
Absolutely! But I will happily travel with cat socks to find the fancy c@cktails.
I figure if I am going to expend dollars and calories on drinking, it had better be good. I get a huge kick out of fancy cocktails made with hand-sourced rutabagas and fairy tears, but I realize it is all a little ridiculous.
Absolutely! But I will happily travel with cat socks to find the fancy drinks.
I figure if I am going to expend dollars and calories on drinking, it had better be good. I get a huge kick out of fancy drinks made with hand-sourced rutabagas and fairy tears, but I realize it is all a little ridiculous.
I’m with PolyD- all 3 times ;)
One of the reasons I don’t make fancy cocktails at home is the trouble of finding the special ingredients and shelling out for a whole bottle of something I only need 1 oz of and may not even like.
It bothers me to pay the 3x markup for wine or beer when all the restaurant did was pour something into a glass. If I’m paying a crazy markup, I want a crazy drink!
And I am sure I will be judged by the no-serial-posting snobs! No idea how that happened!
Books. I judge people based on what they read and like! (And I read my fair share of non serious fiction, but will give side eye to someone who proclaims that Dan Brown is their favorite author of all time)
Same. It’s one thing to enjoy junk. It’s another entirely to proclaim junk your favorite book of all time. And I’ll admit, there are some authors that are just too inane for me.
Haha, yes! Thank you. I am glad that I am not alone :)
I dunno – it’s not like they are saying he’s somehow objectively the *best* author of all time, just the one that they can consistently sit down with to have a good story. Right?
Though – I’d admit there are certain authors that people gush about and I just want to say “You can do better” but that’s not an issue with an entire genre, just a better example of a storyteller within that genre.
Totally! If someone tells me they love Danielle Steele, I’m like, have you met Judith Krantz? or even Nora Roberts?
Coffee – we currently have four methods of making coffee (other than cold brew) and my SO is trying to convince me to get rid of our Chemex. To his point, our automatic Bonavita does make amazing coffee. We also pay a wincingly high amount of money for our beans from local roasters.
Beer – I sometimes feel like having a Corona or a PBR, but it’s a rare hot day on the river. We homebrew and visit breweries and patronize the fancy bottle shops in town.
All inclusive resorts – I don’t like to travel internationally and pay a lot of money to sit on a beach and drink crappy sugar bomb cocktails and eat at tired “fancy American” cliche restaurants (in the DR!). Half of my SO’s family loves this. The mind boggles.
Unnecessary trinkets with cutesy or inane things printed on them. Socks that say “if you can read this, bring me a beer” on the bottom? Every. single. thing. printed with “Bride” or “Bride Tribe.” Are you afraid you’ll forget you’re getting married?
The above I’m honestly not judgey about, but I make those choices for myself. Food, on the other hand, I am definitely snobby about. Not when it comes to people in food deserts, working three jobs, but if you’re educated and live comfortably, why would you eat things that don’t taste good and are so, so terrible for you? Why is it so hard to understand that just because you had a bad salmon experience at your rural town’s Outback, that doesn’t mean salmon isn’t good? How can you rule out an entire family of vital ingredients (alliums! seriously!) and when you’ve just greatly enjoyed half a meal that you discover contains onions suddenly the food is gross? Why would you pick an Applebee’s over any of the dozens of amazing restaurants in a town you’re visiting, when some of those restaurants are even in the same price bracket and are fast casual? Why would you eat the same godawful microwave meal for lunch every single day, and then complain about how gross it is? I just don’t understand.
I am so with you about judging other people’s food choices (by which mean people who have options).
Don’t talk about what an amazing cook you are, then never use salt, or spices, or herbs. Don’t pick Boston Pizza over a local, fresh, not-pre-frozen and re-heated option. Don’t rule out an entire culture’s cuisine (Chinese! Indian!) because you don’t like “spices.”
I’m sensitive to allergy issues, but not to matters of prejudice against alliums!
I totally agree
flotsom. I call the plastic stuff that invades our house from weddings, kiddie birthday parties, promotional swag, etc. flotsom. it’s awful, tacky, useless, I feel sorry for the people involved in making it, I HATE it all.
Damn I need to stop reading this comment section cause yall would judge the hell out of me about everything.
I like cheap wine and it tastes exactly the same to me as the super expensive stuff. I read literature and trashy beach reads. I’m currently making my daily cold brew from a giant tub of Folgers coffee from Costco. I graduated from two state schools and I don’t have a prestigious job. I like to shop at Target and I loved staying at an all-inclusive Sandals property for my honeymoon.
Does all of this make me basic? LOL
FWIW, in blind taste tests some cheap wines often fare very very well, and expensive wines not so much. Fancy wine is 100% a class marker, lots of sommeliers even mess up distinguishing fancy wine from cheap.
Haha it makes you so basic you are EXTRA!! ;)
You are probably fun to hang out with. :)
Yes, very basic, and totally great! As a recent meme going around says “Not liking popular things does not make you interesting!”. I too am basic and perfectly happy.
I LOVE Target . . . just not for wine.
I’d like to be your friend. I’ll bring Barefoot and you can give me packing tips for my cruise honeymoon.
2 words: packing cubes! They have completely changed my life! You’ll have so much fun on your cruise!
I’m right there with you! Give me my $9 wine, my Target, my TJMaxx, my Dunkin or give me death.
Yup, I’ll be your friend, too. We’ll get take-out from a chain restaurant and drink it with cheap wine.
Agreed. I am more like you, and reading these conversations has convinced me that most of the other readers of this site are what I would consider snobs. I probably wouldn’t fit in at any of the meet-ups.
Nothing wrong about it. I envy you – the amount of money I could save if I were not a coffee & alcohol & holiday snob. If I could not tell the difference, I would happily buy/use the basic version. Enjoy!
Swing dancing and swing music.
I tell people I’m a swing dancer, and sometimes they get all excited and go “OH! So you must love ____, right?” Except that that blank is usually something I do not like.
My focus is on African American vernacular street dances developed in and around the 1930’s meant to be danced specifically to the swing jazz music popular at that time; that includes lindy hop, charleston, balboa, shag, and solo jazz. I don’t like west coast swing, or east coast swing, as they are both offshoots of these dances that simply don’t appeal to me. I also don’t dig electro swing at all, or Post Modern Jukebox, or crooners like Frank Sinatra or Michael Buble, and I find rockabilly and 90’s “swing” fun music to listen to when I’m in the mood but not good for social dancing. I like the old artists like Benny Goodman, Cab Calloway, Jimmie Lunceford, and Artie Shaw, and newer artists who emulate the music of the original swing era through covers and original swing tunes, like Glen Crytzer, Gordon Webster, Dandy Wellington, Jonathan Stout, and Michael Gamble.
That said, I’m not one to yuck other people’s yums! I have not said and will not say that the things I don’t like are objectively bad, if you enjoy electro-swing or WCS, keep enjoying it! And just because I say something isn’t swing doesn’t mean it’s not good either, it’s just not swing.
I am a snob about snobs. I don’t mind if people have a preference and have things they love but I really hate people who think they are somehow better than those who aren’t as selective. I also hate “foodie” snobs who think they know food and look down on others who haven’t heard of the latest trendy restaurant. These people usually don’t know anything about cooking.
YASS
Looking down on others is the one thing that will get you booted out of my circle of friends SO. FAST.
Because it ultimately betrays your fundamental insecurity about yourself.
** as distinguished from having things you are personally snobby about and understanding that others may have different things, and good for you, not for me.**
Another way to say this is that if you judge me for my guilty pleasures, OR for not sharing your snobberies about hot restaurants and cool places, you will be cut out of my life so fast…
Example of this. I live in Atlanta, where many people consider it desirable to live “ITP”– inside the perimeter (a major highway that circles the city). I live OTP and am just as much of a snob about it– my friends and I are like, we can do whatever this weekend, as long as we don’t have to brave the hipsters in the city– but I’ve had ppl decline invitations to my home because “they don’t go OTP.” That was aok with me because if that’s your rule, bye felicia. I think a more familiar version of this is New Yorkers who “don’t leave manhattan.”
I’m obviously fascinated by this topic.
Dallas is this way too, inside/outside the loop, aka 214 vs 972. I am not bothered by the hipsters, I just don’t want to drive in. Nothing good happens on the highways.
Ohhh I’m also in Atlanta, and have weirdly experienced the opposite! I work OTP and live ITP and I have so many coworkers who say they don’t go ITP because they hate the traffic/no parking/too many people. I even have one coworker who says she “doesn’t do 285.”
I’ve always assumed the NYC version was public transit related, but that argument would make a lot less sense here.
You just reminded me — I am an unabashed ITP snob. And you probably don’t live “in Atlanta.”
The beauty of living ITP is that you don’t have to brave the traffic on the weekend. You’re already there. I wish fewer OTP folks would come into the city on the weekends. It is the most dangerous time to be on the highways because so many people who don’t know where they are going, and thus which lane they need to be in, are driving through.
I wouldn’t turn down a kind invitation to your OTP home. And I will leave the perimeter for a court appearance or a good Asian restaurant. But I really don’t want to live there . . . or go to a baseball game there.
Haaaa!!! Will now model excellent Good for You, Not for Me behavior.
I grew up “in Atlanta” and have now moved OTP because it’s hard to see beloved places turned so aggressively hipster. No I do not need a $14 butter-based cold press infused whatever. But I completely agree re OTP folks in the city on the weekends. Their effect on traffic is one reason we avoid. Word on the baseball game too. You are right, I live in the City of Marietta in the Atlanta Area. (I am totally outing myself to anyone trying hard enough, but whatever) And Alton Brown lives in Marietta too, and likes our restaurant scene better than the one in the OTP Big City. Not that I’m a snob or anything… :) I love OTP/ITP sparring with people who don’t take it too seriously. Unfortunately way too many people take it very seriously.
cbackson, you just listed many of the reasons we love living ITP. Thriving downtown with lots of cool local artists/makers/breweries/coffeehouses/restaurants, farmers market, events, etc. We are twenty minutes from Lake Allatoona and can do a lake afternoon with no problem and be home for dinner. Really into the outdoors and spend a ton of time in Kennesaw battlefield national park, the Chattahoochee access all over Cobb (Roswell, Vinings, etc), Sweetwater Creek, Sope Creek, Silver Comet, I could go on and on. Come hang with me in Marietta! (No really, we are goodreads friends and I’ll send you a message there)
Oh, yay, yes, please do!
It’s so interesting, because I grew up OTP and it really used to be horrifyingly boring. I now live in Midtown, but OTP has gotten waaaaaaay more fun than it used to be. I consider moving OTP just for better access to the outdoors, TBH – all my favorite cycling spots are OTP (Dirty Sheets, Silver Comet, Rope Mill), there’s awesome running OTP (Stone Mountain, Arabia Mountain, along the Chattahoochee in Roswell), and popping up to the lakes for open water swim would be so much quicker.
When I was growing up ATL suburbia was nothing but chain restaurants and strip malls, with really sad, suffering former downtowns. Those sad, suffering former downtowns now have brewpubs and dog parks and yoga studios and good restaurants and all kinds of community events, and they’re on my radar now in a way they never were before.
I think every city is like that. In DC, it’s if you live in “the city” (i.e. DC) or out in the suburbs. Many DC people refuse to leave the city. And many NoVa people and MD people refuse to come in to the city. I’ve had events at my house in DC and had people refuse to come because they don’t want to deal with coming in to the city on a weekend. Whatever, you can spend 30-45 min to get to my event, then you are not a real friend.
I live in Berkeley. Some of my friends who live in the city act like they don’t even know the east bay existe (get over yourself, dude, you live in the outer sunset.)
Then work friends who live in the East East Bay are like “wow, you live in Berkeley??” Like it’s either so cool, or so scary.
A lot of Berkeleyans and Oaklanders head into the City for a night out. At the same time, Lamorindans and Walnut Creekers are headed into Berkeley or Oakland for a night out, primarily, it seems, so that they can complain to me on Monday about parking.
I grew up in NoVA and lived in MoCo after college. I could not get my Virginia friends to come to Maryland for parties, it just isn’t done!
Right! As we are seeing on this thread, people are snobs about totally different and random things that they just decide to be snobby about for their own reasons that are objectively not really reasons at all. My favorite example is my husband looking down on my son for having a kickstand on his bike, and my son looking down on my husband because his bike won’t stand up by itself!! (All in good fun in that case, I hasten to add.)
That’s adorable!
There is no snobbery like bike snobbery. Bike snob crap I have dealt with in the PAST WEEK ALONE (all from dudes, because Of Course):
-Single-speeds (I like having gears, thanks)
-Steel frames (yes, one of my bikes is steel-frame, but it’s heavy as crap and aluminum and carbon are pretty great, actually)
-Sleeveless jerseys (yes, personally, I think they look silly on dudes unless they’re doing a triathlon, but ultimately, who gives a crap?)
-Grand Tours (look, I like the Vuelta as much as the next girl, but it’s TOTALLY FINE for people to love the Tour and it doesn’t mean they’re lesser bike fans!)
I used to work in the bike industry. And you’re right- Bike snobs are the absolute worst. The comments I’d get when I dared to wear no-show socks on a bike ride. It was like I’d committed the most grievous of sins! I just don’t like to have tan lines halfway up my calf! Good grief.
I hate food snobs the most. “Foodies.” Seriously, you are going to judge people for what they eat?
I am a beer snob and have been for at least a decade. That said, food snobbery bugs me to no end, even though I really enjoy good food.
I am a food snob in the sense that I like and eat everything. I really look down on people who only eat chicken fingers or plain pasta. Like… come on try some Ethiopian food, its great!
Agree – I think the unwillingness to go outside chicken fingers and pasta is a preference for insularity and a hatred/non-interest in other cultures.
This!
Yes 100%
I am also snobby about chain restaurants even though I try not to be. But I live in a city with amazing restaurants… why would I want to waste a meal out at a chain (that is often mediocre and more expensive)
Yeah, I’m kinda the same way. I grew up in a suburb where TGI Fridays was the place to be, but ever since moving to the city I’m often too busy exploring local options to even consider going to some boring chain.
It baffles me how many people will travel to a big city and then go eat at the same restaurant they can eat at back home, instead of exploring the local fare. That said, if you’re traveling with a big group, finding a restaurant that everyone can get behind can be tough, as can finding a place where your kids will find something they’ll want to eat, so sometimes going to a chain that everyone’s familiar with, like Olive Garden or TGI Fridays, is the easiest option.
Yes, I am super snobby about people who only eat kid food. Even kids.
100% this!
I agree about kids and teens who eat only plain pasta and fruit and won’t eat anything interesting or with any type of spice.
Anyone who eats at Applebees etc, I think that is crazy.
True story- I live in the SF Bay Area and have friends who say “their place” is PF Chang’s. They live within a stone’s throw of several immigrant-owned authentic Asian restaurants of all varieties, but get into their car and drive to PF Chang’s. I just do not get it.
I didn’t know there is PFC in SF! Why does it exist?!
Cars. I used to be a book snob, but I’ll read anything now. I also can’t stand when people want to talk about how cheap their clothes are. Good for you for being frugal I guess, but don’t act disgusted when I treat myself to a Michael Kors bag.
Coffee and beer. Also, eggs. I make really fantastic eggs that aren’t burnt or crispy (in pretty much whatever form), and rarely can anyone make them exactly how I like them except me.
Ha! Glad I am not alone in my egg snobbery! I am almost always disappointed with restaurant eggs. They’re always bland and poorly cooked, especially if ordered for brunch. This is why I don’t brunch anymore. If I want good eggs, I have to make them myself.
Yes! Omelettes should never be brown, scrambled eggs should never be dry, and any kind of “easy” should not have boogery wet whites and yolk that runs like water. It should ooze.
If you’re really into eggs, you should get a couple of hens. It’s really hard to go back.
I think hens would be incompatible with owning cats and dogs, sadly.
Compatible with cats but probably not dogs. Though people do it all the time and just have a dog-proof coop.
Something in our young chickens triggered our completely harmless’s cat’s hunting instinct, but since there were three of them and one of him, and he is legitimately a terrible hunter, he now gives our chickens a wiiiiiide berth.
My mother has three cats and a flock, and since she raises her chicks by hand, the cats are introduced to the chicks early on, and are taught to consider the chickens part of the family. They actually protect the chickens! But then, my mother is basically Snow White.
Not sure about dogs, though. Cats it’s a little easier because they are as big as/smaller than fully grown chickens.
My cats are former ferals, and large. My lead boy thought he had an easy meal when we got our first hen, but then she came at him with her wings spread and flapping, and I swear he was air-backpedaling like in a bugs bunny cartoon. I think he wet his little kitty pants.
So grown chickens are generally cat-proof, but dogs of any hunting/ratting variety are a poor combo with them.
Yes, I do spend a bit of time on the backyard chickens forum!
LOL. I don’t know if my way is the right way. I just know it is how I like them :)
Yes, fair enough! Other people like what they like. You do you, etc.
Poached eggs made with MASSIVE amounts of vinegar are my pet peeve. Really, it is not hard to make them without the cheat. I’m often tempted to just ask to go into the kitchen and make them myself…
Food. There’s plenty of cheap food I love (In-N-Out for example) but I also think nothing of shelling out hundreds of dollars for a meal, and I really don’t like a lot of the lower end/chain restaurants most people I know like. It’s not an automatic hatred of chain restaurants- there are chains with food I really like (eg Cheesecake Factory) – but the food at Applebee’s (and lots of similar non-chain places) is just not good.
Spices. I lived in Milwaukee for a brief period and even though I don’t live in WI anymore, I still buy all of my spices from the Spice House. Their blends are amazing.
I’m a spice snob, too, but I buy Penzey’s! I’m lucky that there is a store where I live so I don’t have to order them to be delivered.
I’m a makeup snob — I used to use drugstore brands, but after age 30, I’ve found that nothing looks or feels as good as dept. store brands & Sephora house brand. I’m definitely a movie snob — art house, indie, small-budget movies over franchise comic book stuff any day. Yet I used to be a TV snob, but now I’ll watch anything from reality TV competition shows to PBS Masterpiece dramas to Game of Thrones. I can’t stand food snobs tho — all food can be great IMO, there’s a time for a chicken nugget & there’s a time for coq au vin!
I’m a dessert snob. To clarify, I don’t care what dessert (or other food) anyone else eats. Go for it, enjoy it, you do you because obviously your life and your preferences are not mine.
But I would rather turn down dessert entirely than eat brownies, sickly grocery store cake, or icy “frozen dairy dessert.” If I’m at a restaurant and the only dessert offerings are a token chocolate lava cake and ice cream sundae, I will probably not be eating dessert because it’s clear that they don’t have a pastry chef and no one in the kitchen cares about dessert so both choices are probably bad. If I’m at a party and dessert is cake from a box mix topped with canned frosting, I will not be eating dessert because your cake is probably dry and your frosting is gross.
I actually love dessert and I’m pretty good at making it. There are lots of easy, simple ways to do good quality desserts that are worth eating, even if you don’t have time or skills. So please don’t try to force bad dessert on me or imply that I’m rejecting dessert because I’m worried about my weight. I’m rejecting dessert because I’d rather have another glass of $8 wine than eat something that I’m socially forced to pretend is indulgent and delicious.
+1
Tritto
This, a thousand times this.
“To clarify, I don’t care what dessert (or other food) anyone else eats. Go for it, enjoy it, you do you because obviously your life and your preferences are not mine.”
I feel this way about things I’m a snob about. Books, properly cooked eggs, dessert, beer. People like what they like, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Saying that I’m a snob about these things though is my way of saying, these are the things I care about putting my time, energy, and money into. Bad books are not worth my time, and neither is anything else on my “snob” list. But hey, if you loved the hell out of Fifty Shades of Grey, you’re hardly alone, and I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Yes!! I looove homemade pie, cakes, etc. But unless I’m insanely hungry, I don’t eat grocery store/freezer pie, store bought sheet cake, or cheap “vanilla” ice cream (especially with that awful Hershey’s syrup on it), and wouldn’t even if it were somehow magically calorie free. See also any rolls that came out of a can.
LOL box cake is NEVER dry. It’s not great cake, but your complaint certainly can’t be that it’s dry.
Funny, I wouldn’t have thought of this but I totally feel the same way. I’m happy to make desserts for get togethers if it means avoiding the types of desserts you mention.
Grammar
Natural fibers
Urban (yes) vs suburban (no)
Restaurants (local all the way, do not even try to get me to go to an Applebee’s or an Olive Garden)
I think we might be twins. No polyester for me! Yes, I will gladly live in the fancy part of town so I can literally walk to every major attraction. I would rather not eat at all than eat at Applebee’s.
YES.
Especially natural fibres. No poly knit cardigans for me please.
There are not many Applebees in the Bay Area and I’ve only been to one once. I got what I thought was a pretty normal safe entree which was salmon with green beans and mashers. It was just so bad (salmon very dry, beans mushy) I am confused as to why this food is considered run of the mill. I don’t think anyone would be like, yeah, that was fine. And it was quite expensive for a “run of the mill” type place (in the $20 range). I don’t think I’m being a food snob saying that I wouldn’t go back. I just feel like my money goes much farther most places.
As I get older, I try to keep my snobby thoughts to myself, though I’m sure people think I’m a snob because I’d rather take my kid to an art museum for her birthday than the American Girl Doll store. Here’s a list of things that suggest to me that a person doesn’t have good taste:
Adults over the age of 25 choosing a place like the Olive Garden or Cheesecake Factory or a better-than-average buffet place (like a hotel restaurant or a Fogo de Chao) for a “nice” dinner as opposed to any of the dozens of really good and probably *less* expensive places in the LA metro area.
Repeated Disney-branded vacations (which I realize is the Internet definition of “fighting words”). Related: timeshares.
Rom-coms – I try to be a good sport when my mom wants to watch something like “The Holiday” or similar, but the combination of super-good-looking woman/not-very-attractive guy/too-expensive-house-and-decorator-kitchen just makes me want to barf and set feminist rage-fires.
The concept of “canon” in the context of science fiction and fantasy series – Star Wars is *not* real, I don’t care how much you want to tell me that so-and-so couldn’t possibly like boys/smash the thing/do the whatever, I’m just going to sit here and think about that delicious lip-chewing bit until the end of time.
Imma come sit with you.
(cue grammar/spelling snobs – whoops!) haha
Oh, Poe’s biting of his lip! With you on that, sister…
Frankly, I want Poe and Finn to run off into the sunset together…so super cute. Two funny snob-related stories:
When I was getting to know a now-very-good friend who grew up in France, she said to me, “I had no idea you were an American! You’re always so well-dressed!” Now I know plenty of well-dressed Americans, but she truly meant it as a compliment.
An actor friend has been in some “big” movies – some critically acclaimed, some that made $$$ but are pretty universally mocked. I was so pleased when he told me I had good taste in movies, though I think my movie-going habits are just plain snobby (I totally choose small/indie/black-and-white/subtitled/truly depressing over even good blockbusters).
I don’t have a kid otherwise I swear I would have thought I blacked out and wrote this myself. I would *never* openly sh*t on anyone’s birthday at Olive Garden or wherever, I will 100% show up to your 45th bridal shower with a gift in hand without complaint (being a gift grabber would also be on my list), and I will absolutely sneak in wine to the theater if you want me to go to see 50 shades of whichever with you, but it would just never occur to me to do any of those things.
I think shaming people for their, subjectively, lowbrow preferences is wayyyy tackier than eating at an Outback Steakhouse and vacationing at Sandals (which under the right circumstances sounds really fun). Except for the Star Wars “canon” thing – I’m happy to throw all the shade at that.
I agree – I listen politely to my coworker’s obsession with certain sports even though I couldn’t care less about attending a game (though I do love stadium food). The canon thing is so irritating, and it’s usually guys doing a particular kind of mansplaining.
Imma come sit with you too.
And, intentional playing with words and embodying dialect in written conversation doesn’t trigger my language snobbery at all;).
So judge-y! It is one thing to say, “I only like good coffee, therefore you could call me a coffee snob,” and another thing altogether to say that you look down on others who don’t make the exact same choices that you do, because presumably you know what is “best.”
THis! I’m surprised at the number of people here who are openly saying, I look down on people who have tastes and likes that i consider low class and unsophisticated.
I am not surprised (perhaps I have low expectations of the commenters here), but I do kind of recoil. It’s not a great look.
I don’t care what anyone else does but I’m a snob about tea (loose leaf, from the local tea shop) and chocolate (dark, fair trade). Luckily Lidl sells the good chocolate.
I’m a bit of a snob about being open to trying new things. I have no patience for people who won’t go to xx place ever because it’s different, they won’t try new foods, they won’t leave their little corner of their world and do nothing to ever open their worldview or even compromise on places to meet friends. I’m not a “new is always better” kind of person but I’m definitely against doing things just because that’s how they’ve always been done.
I’m a snob about manicures. I have yet to find a person who paints the polish the way I want it done, so I do it myself. I silently judge bad manicures. Go bare if you can’t do it right or afford to have it done properly! Sloppy polish is, well, sloppy.
Tell me your secrets! Mine always chip
It’s not magical, but I do the following:
– always use a base coat;
– keep my nails short;
– reapply color and top coat halfway through the week (full shebang Sundays, touch up Wednesdays)
– always wear rubber gloves when my hands could possible come in contact with water at home;
– use my fingertip pads, not my nails to scrub my hair, etc.;
– always wear gloves at the barn;
– always put on hand cream after washing my hands.
I am really hard on my hands and have yet to find a topcoat that will give me more than three days. Thank goodness Seche Vite is cruelty-free!!
good lord you must have a lot of spare time on your hands. no pun intended though come to think of it it’s an excellent pun.
I have to say that I am deeply judgey about chipped manicures in the professional context. Either spring the $5 extra for shellac or take your damn polish off.
I know people who will think this is me. I have found one person in the last 10 years that can do my nails the way I like, and I only found her after a lot of detailed discussions with my hair stylist.
Since I’ve provided running commentary, I feel obliged to give my list. Also because this is my favorite thread topic EVER.
My husband and I work largely because we share the same snobberies.
Art– This is one I will judge you for. If all the art in your house is from Ikea, I judge you because the same amount of money could have bought interesting stuff from local artists/makers or Etsy.
Food– I really really hate the food police. I went to a school where people literally would wait at the tray drop in the dining hall and 1) weigh the food left on your tray to tell you how much food you had just wasted; 2) comment on what you ate/didn’t eat. I also have sensory issues that cause some textures of food to be totally no-gos for me, even things that everyone else in the world loves. This and eating disorder stuff have caused me to be pretty aggressive in my counter-protests to food shaming. Or food snobbery past a certain point.
I rage at how much bad, overpriced, pretentious food I have choked down at trendy restaurants. Low-end foods are usually perfected by the people who specialize in them, so you’ll never see me order a “donut” off a fancypants menu. Because they’re always way worse than Krispy Kreme, let alone the awesome local donut shop up the road. I believe that you can be a connoisseur of just about anything. For example, I am a connoisseur of diet decaf soda purchased in large chain stores. (Canada Dry diet cranberry ginger ale FTW). Also of fast food milkshakes (Zagat picks Steak n Shake). And frozen pizza (this continues to be hotly debated). My husband worked at Sonic in high school and has a few things on their menu he will cut you for. Loving food shouldn’t depend on its price, or whether it came from somewhere cool or hip.
That said, Applebees is awful. The Olive Garden usually too, though my husband and I once had a waiter who made us feel like we were at a Michelin guide level dining establishment– we still talk about that meal ten years later, but neither of us remembers what we ordered, so. Rant over.
I am un-snobby to the point of genuinely horrifying others about: shoes, jeans, fake plants, events (there are no real rules other than basic heavy etiquette rules of hosting and guesting that apply anywhere– anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you something).
I read high-end and low-end books constantly, usually at the same time. There are a few authors that, if you love them, I will quietly put you on a private personal list. Not sure what that list is, but it’s basically “be wary.” Examples: 50 Shades of Gray, Chicken soup for the anything soul. But you can tear my vintage Reader’s Digest Drama in Real Life essays from my cold dead hands.
“Good for you, not for me.” This is what secure, happy people say. Anyone who’s policing what you love/don’t love outside of a genuinely meaningful ethical context is probably neither secure nor happy.
I will be over in the corner eating my fancypants cheese popcorn from Whole Foods with my diet cherry 7up.
Regarding fast food milkshakes–The Zagat people must have never been to a CookOut.
CookOut is LIFE! I love their milkshakes.
Amen.
Tell me your current frozen pizza standings. I keep at least one in my freezer at all times and would love to try new ones!
Also, steak ‘n’ shake milkshakes all the way. @Gail I love CookOut in its own way, but if I go there I’m getting a Cheerwine float because they don’t put sundae toppings on their milkshakes the way Steak’n’Shake does.
Gladly!!
For a doughier crust, I am Freschetta all the way.
For thin NY pizza, both Target and Trader Joe’s have great cheese ones. (Archer Farms/ Trader Joe’s Trattoria)
For what we affectionately call Cardboard Pizza (not thin crust, but crunchy crust), I think I’m Team Red Baron for pepperoni/hawaiian, Team Tombstone for cheap cheese pizza to throw veggies on and bake.
Throwing in a plug for screamin’ sicilian frozen pizzas which are little pricier, but frequently go on sale. Also dying laughing at your connoisseur of diet decaf sodas (while sipping on a fresca with a case of diet caffeine free dr pepper at home!) – looove diet cranberry ginger ale. Any other really good ones I should know about?
Team Tombstone here as well – childhood memories. We doctor it up with a little garlic salt and italian seasoning and sometimes extra cheese. Occasionally dipped into ranch dressing if we’re really going 80s throwback.
We still enjoy Totino’s as a fun treat – we ate a lot of them in our early married days. They have gotten smaller though!
OMG I was devoted to Drama in Real Life when I was growing up. Because of course my parents subscribed to Reader’s Digest, which I would totally be snobby about these days but which I read cover to cover at the time. Although it was perilous — one time when I was eight or nine they published an article called I Am Joe’s Prostate and after reading it I was convinced I had prostate cancer!
And high five for Cardboard Pizza!!
I’m with you on the food police – I actually switched dorms in college because I couldn’t deal with a dining hall that was ground zero for the “I’m only going to have lettuce, mustard and water” crowd, which did not mesh well with my generally anxious mental state. I feel like I had a respite from the “are you going to eat THAT?!!!” people (that being bread, salad dressing) in my late 20s, and then I had kids and ugh, there are people out there that object to giving preschoolers crackers.
Use of the Oxford Comma. I consider it essential and will judge you if you don’t.
+10000
Chicago style all the way. And I will absolutely judge (and sometime rage) over misplaced or excessive apostrophe’s. Ahem.
I’m an odd kind of food snob. I like all kinds of food, all along the price spectrum, and even some fast food. But I have strong preferences for quality ingredients.
Condiments: I will shell out a lot of money for good condiments and shun bad ones.
Spices and oils, too. I have my own salt and pepper in my desk and in my purse. I know I intake regular iodized salt in restaurants, but I’m not going to willingly add it to my food. I know when your paprika is stale and when your olive oil is cheap and/or rancid.
Old fashioned recipes using canned mushroom soup are all the no.
And goat cheese, used without finesse, is a crutch for someone who aspires to be a foodie but doesn’t actually have a good palate or a deft hand in the kitchen.
YES on the goat cheese. I have an incredibly strong food aversion to it and cannot agree enough re the crutch. So many yummy things, ruined by the addition of goat cheese.
Can you tell me your favorite condiments/ olive oil? I would LOVE to up my game in that department. Great example of something that is genuinely worth it.
What salt and pepper do you use?
All this has been really interesting – if you don’t know what else is out there, you can be complacent about any number of things. I would love to know which foods I need to be aware of that might rock my world.
Oooh, yeah, rancid olive oil is awful. I buy it in really small containers because I don’t cook with it – I just use it in salads and such – and the minute it’s a little off, I have to pitch it.
Adults who are super into The Magic Kingdom. I get enjoying Disney with kids, seeing it through their eyes, etc. but I do NOT understand grownups who are all-in for themselves, with no kids. Go on a grown-up vacation! Those princesses aren’t real! STOP IT WITH THE EARS!!
Psh I love Disney parks and totally want to visit them as an adult! Dapper Day looks like fun, the upcoming Marvel area of Disney Hollywood Studios in Orlando is exciting, and my boyfriend and I absolutely want to check out the Star Wars park they’re working on. I’m also eating up Disney Fairytale Weddings these days, even though I know I couldn’t afford my own. Haters gonna hate!
Same. I know a couple who went to Disneyland and left their kids with the grandparents. I’m just….
Ha. I’m the commenter from this morning whose parents live in Celebration. I grew up in Tampa, and we went to Disney parks pretty regularly. My parents still go and will pay for me, my husband, and kid to go when we visit (we went before we had a kid too). But my parents are snobby IN the parks–about adults who wait in line for characters, people in matching or coordinating t-shirts, and adults wearing Disney merchandise (including ears). I figure if people are paying to be there, they should do whatever helps them have a good time. And if you’re going to spend an hour in line to see a character, then the lines for the rides are that much shorter :-)
Diary products: In particular, I will happily eat vegan cheese but don’t try to tell me that Kraft singles or Velveeta or any food that comes in a spray can are “cheese” and therefore I should enjoy them because no. I also don’t like any of the cheese in the dairy case, only the deli (exception: Trader Joe’s). Also, whole milk and butter from grass fed cows only. Yes, I can definitely taste a difference. If you can’t I’m not judgey, though, just envious because boy does it get expensive fast.
Eggs: I like it when they come from happy, well-raised chickens and have yolks so golden they look orange. I am also heavily pro-thank you note, and keeping a clean house. People who insist they are too intellectual or authentic to sweep the d@mned floor/pay someone else to sweep it are generally people I know I won’t enjoy spending time with (both because I don’t trust their sense of superiority AND because their house is filthy and unpleasant to visit).
I am a coffee snob-Peets is my favorite, Starbucks is the worst. 100%, high thread count sheets, I shuddder to a Boston accent–and I am from Boston–natural fabrics, hands down. No processed cheese, and a total cocktail snob. I send back poorly made cocktails.
Ocean Beaches: having grown up in Hawaii I am partial to a beach with clean water where I can see the bottom and soft sand. “Beaches” where the coral hasn’t ground up enough so it cuts your feet or requires shoes (!!) is a no-go. Equally displeasing are those where the water is not clear. Who knows what’s in that murky depths (horsehoe crabs, alligators, jellyfish, hypodermic needles?) I cringe at the thought of ever stepping into that.
That said, I will not think less of you if you visit those kind of beaches or enjoy them. Just don’t ask for my honest opinion about them and don’t be offended if I don’t want to join you there.
Adults without a passport: To be an adult (~25+) and not have a passport is akin to saying I am uninterested in the world and unwilling to see differences from those of my own culture. You won’t feel my scorn if you haven’t yet visited somewhere but to not even have the *interest* in going somewhere else, is provincial, myopic and dangerous.
Yes! My 30 yr old SIL’s bestie went to Norway for a month. I asked SIL why she didn’t tag along (never left the country). She responded with “why would I want to do that?”
Um to see the world? Leave your small midwestern town and actually see something??!!
Eh, my wonderful husband really doesn’t like to travel (he has a passport but only because he occasionally has to leave the country for work). He is very well read, open-minded and curious about other cultures and he eats literally every kind of ethnic cuisine there is, he just doesn’t enjoy travel for a variety of reasons (doesn’t like flying, doesn’t like spending the money, doesn’t enjoy most vacation-y activities). Personally I love to travel but it’s a hobby just like anything else and some people just don’t enjoy it. It doesn’t automatically make you provincial, anymore than not wanting to play tennis or join a book club does.
+1 I’m really offended by the idea that people who don’t own passports are to be scorned as provincial, myopic, and dangerous.
I grew up without money. No one in my family had a passport, because we couldn’t afford to travel outside the U.S.
But all that tells you is that we didn’t have passports and didn’t travel. You know nothing about our views and interests. To scorn people you know nothing about is, um…myopic.