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

It’s not to seem intelligent. It’s to seem a better class.

This!! So fucking what if you apparently don’t know them, Keith from Stockport?! No one cares 😂

A few years ago I mentioned to my husband that it had come up that my parents hadn’t heard of Kim Kardashian, so then I found out he hadn’t either! It’s definitely possible. These are not people with highbrow interests.

I've no interest in celebrities, there are probably a good few that I genuinely wouldn't know. But there really is no escaping the big ones unless you never use SM, watch TV or read newspapers. I do think the 'who?' comments about some celebs are a clear attempt to seem superior. It probably is an attempt to seem intelligent, no one's asking who David Attenborough is but I would argue that Kim Kardashian is a lot more famous.

I find it so stupid when people trying to sound cool comment "who?" On a post
They could have used that time to Google instead of looking like a dick

I'm 58. I wouldn't recognise ise Kim Kardashien in a line up. I'm not cool. I'm not particularly intelligent. I just don't follow celebrities. 8 did look at the pics of the Met outfits on my phone just now and some of them are Amazing! No idea about the people wearing them really. Apologies for typos, app playing up & I can't be bothered to retype.

So what you're saying is that the people you recognise are the people everyone should recognise?

We live in a very stratified culture with fewer mass media "must sees" that everyone shares.

Also, it's generational. I bet my mum couldn't pick Madonna out of a crowd but, to me, she is one of the most recognisable famous people. But then, I couldn't tell Dua Lipa from Charlie XCX.

I can sometimes vaguely recognise a Kardashian, but I can't tell one from the other. It's nothing to do with pretending to be intelligent.

I've been accused on these boards of being deliberately obtuse for not recognising certain names and so on - I'm just not that au fait with popular culture these days.

I could pick out all of them. I couldn't name a single Taylor Swift song or album. I suppose I probably have heard Taylor Swift played somewhere but I've never knowingly heard any of her songs.

I don't watch shows like Strictly or Traitors-articles about the celebrity versions appear in The Times and The Guardian with photos, most of whom I don't recognise. Just checked an article about the latest one Traitors - 9 photos appeared, I know who 4 of them are.

The same type of people who regularly flock onto the guardian TV section forum to say that ‘I don’t have a television’.

People do the same in threads when someone dies. You will always get someone who comments "Who?" instead of Googling or just scrolling on.

I agree with that. Typing 'who' s just pathetic, but that's not what the op (& others) have said she said...

There were people saying "who" on a photo of Kim Kardashian. I have never seen an episode of the show, have no interest in her, but of course I know who she is - because how can you not?

Ah maybe this instead of "who" i mean the kardashians are famous for not doing anything except being famous, and that does irritate people.

Yep, this. ^ Definitely an 'I am better than you' vibe about 'I have never heard of Kim Kardshian!' Of course you have. 😆

Hmmm as usual a lot of ‘I don’t use social media’ or ‘xyz is never mentioned on my social media’……..on this social media site,,,,,,,mentioning XYZ.

Some people don’t watch or read the news and so are not exposed to massive stories like when Kim Kardashian was robbed, or the one-off stories prominently placed like the annual Met Gala. If you reach/watch/follow the news these are hard to avoid. You don’t necessarily read the article but you see the headline. But some people are extremely insular and don’t engage with any news I suppose. I’m glad not to be so incurious!

The bigger question is why people post to say ‘who?’. It’s really odd behaviour, and very unpleasant when somebody has died. I don’t always recognise every celebrity mentioned on here because I’m not in the UK. But certainly wouldn’t dream
of wasting my time, and everyone else’s, posting ‘who’ on a thread about someone I’ve never heard of. Very unusual behaviour.

Inverted snobbery is as bad as traditional snobbery.

It’s quite easy to avoid Kim K if you don’t watch that stuff. I’m more likely to see her referred to on here.

Well, yes, but personally, I wouldn't put Kim Kardashian or Katie Price in the same category as Trump or Elvis etc.

It’s code for “I’m angry that this person is rich and famous”.

Hmmm yeah, there is an sniff of wanting to seem more intelligent. It's to make out they're better, more edgy, more cool, and more well educated, because why on earth would anyone with a Red Brick University degree living in a naice area in a naice house watch such peasanty drivel?! 😱

Yep that's it! 😆

Some people really do not know who she would be. My other half wouldn’t. He is not remotely interested in celebrity anything.

Some responses on the thread as in ‘who’ will be sarcastic.

Some will be real. They have no clue who she is.

The first three. Obviously, I know of Taylor Swift but I don't think I could pick her out of a line up. I'm a bit face blind though.