Do you ever find yourself having to defend your snobby interests? (light hearted)

[GirlySwot73]

....which are actually far from snobby? I'm an ordinary working class girl, and I happen to like classical music. I am currently being driven insane by Capital radio in the office at work, including bloody Capaldi seven times a day. But if I dared to suggest having a change to Classic FM, or, god forbid, Radio 3, I'd be seen as 'posh' or a snob, or just plain weird. I'm really not! Is this just me? Am I so unusual?! What do you have to defend yourself for?

Not "defend" per se but hide? I bought headphones when everyone was home during pandemic, cos I work from home and I would have psychedelic tunes on really loud or I listen to financial, tech and medical research podcasts on sonos speaker. Somehow my teenage kids and my husband find it funny .....

That does sound a bit snobby or insecure though. Books don't have to be improving, you can read them for entertainment. And many thrillers/a lot of crime fiction is at the cosier end and not necessarily violent or nightmare-inducing. Plus many are extremely well written and not trashy. Kate Atkinson writes detective fiction and general literary fiction - very good writer in all genres. Perhaps you should try something different and you might be able to connect with your mum over it instead of trying to show her how clever you are.

I love to read and rarely watch TV, and even when I do I have no interest in all the inane drivel that is so prevalent on there. If I overhear people discussing the latest reality TV I inwardly judge them to high Heaven and back. Now I'm middle aged I've given up hiding my interests for fear of offending or confusing the intellectually challenged.

DH and I watch very few films that are not foreign language and subtitled, mainly French or Spanish, but some Italian and German. Very few Hollywood films, except certain directors, e.g. Lynch, Scorsese, Tarantino. Lots of French TV shows like Engrenages, Dix pour Cent. We don't really think of these interests as 'snobby', which I take to mean 'thinking you are superior to other people for some reason'. It's just what we like. These facts came to the attention of a colleague who called me 'pretentious'. I said 'What am I pretending to be?'

Sounds like some people here have a pretty active inner snob going on and are just as narrow-minded as OP's colleagues.

I don't like snobbery or inverted snobbery.

She doesn't say she reads what she does because she thinks it's 'improving'; she just likes it . And what gives you the impression she's trying to show her mum anything?
And I'd imagine the poster knows what sort of thrillers her mum reads, that they are not the cosy type, and that this is why they give her nightmares.

Personally I don't have to defend myself much in terms of interests. I do find myself being accused of being anorexic/on a diet sometimes though, as I'm slim and am sometimes witnessed eating things like fruit. The possibility that I also sometimes eat fish and chips, cake and crisps doesn't seem to occur to people.

Was once told not to tell colleagues I'd been to the theatre at the weekend. I'd paid £5 for standing tickets. One of my male colleagues had been to a premiership football match. Tickets are, what, £80? Apparently mine was the elitist activity,

I sat in softplay as distorted pop music was blasted out of cheap speakers to add to the cacophony last week and felt that classic music would be so much better.

I have a lot of time for J.K. Rowling but I can't abide Harry Potter. Dh saved me after The Chamber of Secrets and took over bedtime reading with ds while I willingly cleaned the kitchen in return.

I worked in a Working Man's Club during uni and wasn't given any grief about the philosophy books or broadsheet papers I read behind the bar - although I suspect there were plenty of disgruntled mumbling about the quality of the pints I pulled.

I went on a hen do once and everyone thought I was a weirdo because I was reading a book at the airport while waiting for our flight. I got the impression that if I had just sat there doing nothing it would have been ok but reading a Book was weird

My mother used to make quince jelly. My chickens loved the goop and skins that were left over when she'd finished.

My TV packed up around the time analogue TV was turned off. Didn't bother for a couple of years then decided I would - bloke in Currys, when told I hadn't had a TV for 2 years asked 'but how did you manage?' I mean, what's there to manage? I have three floor to ceiling bookcases!

I joined a facebook group for over 60s to go out in a group. Unfortunately I never wanted to go to the local chain pub for burgers or see the latest blockbuster movies. And no one wanted to visit the museums, theatres or independent bars that I suggested. I’m just a weirdo, but I’m luckily happy enough alone.

If someone calls me a snob or that my interests are 'snobby' I ask them to define their terms.

Too deep 😂 Does she think you’ll wear your brain out or something?

@Yeppery

people taking umbrage to that is likely nothing to do with snobbery.

Not snobby or insecure. It's not trying to impress anyone.
It's personal taste and what entertains me.

I don't like crime thrillers. I've read trashy crime thrillers. I've read well-written crime thrillers. I don't like the genre.
I also don't like magic realism. I also don't like autobiographies. I also don't like short story collections. I also don't like graphic novels.

I have nothing against these genres. It's not about being snobby or insecure. As you said, books should be entertaining. I don't find crime thrillers entertaining.

I love the Harry Potter films The books are awful.

Sounds like a mismatch of interests rather than being accused of snobbiness or having to defend yourself. People are allowed to like chain pubs and blockbuster movies just as much as you are allowed not to. Plus the Wetherspoons would probably be a good deal cheaper than the local independent place. Not everyone has an unlimited budget.

I am proud of my "snobby" interests - Radio 4, reading, art galleries, Shakespeare etc. Because to me - and pretty much everyone I know - they are completely normal and everyday interests, so not a big deal. Whereas I don't watch reality TV or football, I don't know most so-called ceebs, read trashy magazines etc. Each to their own - other people can do what they like, but it would be really boring if we all liked/did the same things.

Of course they are @Catspyjamas17. But it was definitely implied that I was being snobby or unfriendly by not finding these trips exciting. I also got a pasting on here for responding to an AIBU about Eurovision with “YANBU it’s always been rubbish”.

When young and single rarely watched TV at home was always going out. When we got married couldn't afford a TV. So went without. Was either music or books if we sat down. So I missed years of the soaps. Bought a TV for the children the advent of recording stuff meant I saw more.

Now we have streaming I can dip in and out. I go to the hospital clinic regularly and I'm the only one there reading. Out comes my kindle. It helps to pass the time.

I play golf. It's the hobby that MN hates!

I work for a classical music festival and I cannot tell you the amount of times we've been turned down for funding as we are not 'relevant'. Apparently we should be doing back to back film music concerts instead.

With you there with the classical music. I did find a way to let people play classical at work by suggesting Rap instead once for a work drive to site with colleagues, and they were so horrified they said, ‘anything else?’ at which point I suggested classical. Was better than the radio Hahaha

I also have to play croquet with family and friends but don’t find that a posh game really is it? They seem to think it is.