Do people pretend not to know who people are in order to seem intelligent?

My problem would be they change their look so often I wouldn't necessarily recognise either of them

Seems you have wrong expectations.

Seems the celeb business managed to persuade you that it is more impactful than it really is.

People are generally ignorant, why should the pop culture be an exception?

My brother is a bit of a snob when it comes to celebs.

If i even mention harry styles or anyone he does the whole feigned 'who'. But he actually pretends he doesnt know and then scoffs.

I mean i am not a fan of harry styles i dont dislike him either, i know he exists . I just happened to mention his name as it was applicable to the conversation we were having. I dont need scoffed at about it.

To be fair, Katie Price looks completely different to how she looked at the height of her fame. They might genuinely not recognise her

Seriously I'm not sure I'd know Kim K definitely would Katie price though.

You have a lot of expectations of people you don't know.

I know the "big names" of film, sport, music etc. But I wouldn't have a clue who any reality star was if they appeared in front of me, I regularly have to Google who someone is if someone at work mentions them, or they are on House of Games or something that we might watch with dinner.

We genuinely don't want much TV and try to avoid the celebrity "news" because no one is this house cares about that stuff. We also mostly avoid watching/reading the real world news because it's depressing. We just focus on our own little bubble. Not to seem intelligent or cool or anything, only to make ourselves happy.

Don't expect people to be the same as you, or to notice the same things as you. I once mentioned the name of someone massive in motorsport to my team at work, and not a single person knew who he was. Then the next topic of conversation was about some celebrity I hadn't heard of. People only take in things they want to.

But how then do you know what Gemma Collins, Pete Wicks or Jamie Laing look like? I think I might recognise Pete Wicks but I certainly wouldn’t recognise Gemma Collins and was hazy about who she is (just googled her to find out), and as far as I can recall I have never heard of Jamie Laing and have no idea who he is. I’ve just asked my DH and he has never heard of any of them.

We just don’t read or watch the articles or programmes that presumably would lead us to know about these people, though we both read two newspapers daily and watch news and politics programmes. I do enjoy some "reality" programmes, e.g. I love Below Decks, Traitors, Masterchef.

I don’t think this is either praiseworthy or blameworthy - just a fact. Different people have different interests. I'm not interested in football so there are very few footballers I would recognise - probably only Harry Kane. DH is interested in football so he would recognise a lot of them.

You’re doing better than me tbh I’ve never heard of Sigrid, but then I could list loads of of bands who are really familiar to my friends and I but I can guarantee OP would never have heard of (quite a few of which fill stadiums)

Nothing to do with intelligence no. I wouldn’t expect my DH would know who the Kardashians are but Katie Price yes as of the generation when she was gracing page 3 (in the same way I know who Sam Fox is). He’d recognise a footballer but I wouldn’t have a clue.

If anybody is saying "who" to Kim K they are definitely acting ignorant and probably are being obtuse, i think it just makes look silly when they act superior like that

I've heard her name and know she's famous for something, but not what.
I couldn't pick her out in a line-up

I know who Sigrid is. She appears in my YouTube "you might like this" - possibly because she cites Bonnie Raitt as an influence.

@PhaedraTwo I didn't say that no older people are interested in contemporary music, or indeed that no younger people like older artists - I think my DS and a few of his friends reduced the average age of the audience at last year's Santana gig in Glasgow quite considerably! 😂 But I'd be willing to bet that if you took all the people in Britain who couldn't name a Taylor Swift song there would be a bias to the older age group, plus I presume some who are too young. I'd guess there will be more people who don't know any of her music because they're the "wrong" age group than for any other single reason. Lots of us are genuinely unaware, rather than pretending we don't know much about her as a result of snobbery and I don't think that is as shocking as a PP seemed to consider it.

I know what you mean OP.
I worked with someone who claimed he had never heard of Coronation Street. I mean, I don't watch it either, but to claim you had never heard of it was just ridiculous and does demonstrate a lack of curiosity and awareness of current affairs, which I suspect was the exact opposite of what he was trying to demonstrate.
(This was in the 1990s when it was impossible to read any newspaper without Corrie being mentioned somewhere)

I don't know any Taylor Swift songs. Although I probably have heard some, I just don't know it's her singing. Have any of her songs been used in TV ads?

I do however know who eg Sigrid is, who probably appeals to a similar demographic, because I came across her stuff on YouTube and liked it. So it's not really an age thing, it's chance to some extent.

I know who she is but not really what she looks like. Katie price has changed a lot! I do watch tv but not reality tv

Nope cannot name a single Taylor Swift song. Why would I? My musical taste is symphonic metal so she is not on my wavelength/I am not on her wavelength. I don't listen to the radio as I listen to my CD's in the car.

And yes I am on the internet on YouTube listening to music, but the music that comes up in my algorithms is not Taylor Swift

I always thought the ‘who?’ was more a dig at the so called celebrity, in that they aren’t as famous/popular/important as they think they are. That not everyone is interested in what they do etc.

Also, I just had to google Met Gala. I thought it was to do with the Met Police… 🤣

@UnaOfStormhold - I can recognise Brennan Lee Mulligan! I know who Matt Mercer is but I couldn't pick him out in a photo.

I'm very good at film actors from the 70s to the 2010s, although those with extensive 'work' in recent years sometimes throw me off because their face shapes have changed so much.

If they don't act, or don't appear on TV cookery shows then I probably don't recognise them. That's ok.

I don't expect everyone to be interested in Tommy Banks or Angela Harnett, and I'm not interested in footballers or pop stars. It's ok for people to have different interests.

You’ll definitely get people who think that commenting “WHO?” or something along the lines of “nobody cares” shows some sort of superiority.

Personally, I know of the Kardashians but I couldn’t pick one out in a lineup and have no idea what they have achieved in life that makes them worthy of being called celebrities. But if one was announced for Strictly, for example, it would be a name I knew.

On that note, people commenting on announcements for programmes like Strictly always make me laugh when they appear so affronted that they haven’t heard of a particular “celeb”. The lineup isn’t put together just to keep you happy, I remember I had no idea who Hamza Yassin was, as I’m not his target demographic, but for me part of the joy of it all is finding somebody new that you really like!

think you're both wrong actually. I think there are lots of people who couldn't name a Taylor Swift song and the primary reason for that is nothing to do with snobbery, it's age

Only up to a point. The Taylor Swift fans I know who went to the Edinburgh concert are in their mid to late 50s and early 60s.

Off the top of my head 4 of my favourite contemporary non classical artists post date Taylor Swift either in age or first career recognition. There are many more. A huge amount, perhaps most, of my non classical music collection is well beyond "my youth" .

Both of these women have had massive amounts of plastic surgery and are barely recognisable as their previous selves. They're also well past their peak of cultural relevance - in 2016 Kim K was still everywhere and I think you'd have a point, but in 2026 I think even Kendall and Kylie are fading out of relevance to teens. The Kardashians have had their day, and all you have to do to be in ignorance of Katie Price is avoid the tabloids. It's not that hard to do.

I really think that's all it is. Their stars have faded. I remember not knowing who Jason Donovan or Peter Andre were in the 2000s. Not a clue!

I wouldn't recognise Kim Kardashian at all. I've heard the name but no idea what she looks like

@NoCommentingFromNowOn 😂 i didnt see that programme but according to Google yep.

When that song first came out I was 13 and thought it was the coolest thing ever. Along with my acid top and dungarees 😂.

I think age, interests, music taste, use (or not) of SM along with how different brains are wired accounts for what data gets filed away or deleted. You can't label everyone a snob just because they cant name a Taylor Swift song!

Yes, why on earth would I recognise Kim Kardashian? I’m not sure we hat she does, so probably she only appears in celebrity things which I don’t buy:look at. Otherwise where would our paths cross, on the other hand I could tell you the inside leg measurements of numerous members of bands the OP has never heard of, the tarot correspondences to the Kabbalistic tree of life (along with the angels) and could discuss Romantic poets for days. I don’t care the OP couldn’t, why would I? She simply has different interests. So I’m entirely with you (and used the words couldn’t pick her out of a line up cos I genuinely couldn’t)

What I find worrying is that the OP ( like so many others just simply can’t imagine anyone not having the same points of reference, interests and views as her)