Why are people who like nice things considered snobs?

[jintyjill]

From conversations I’ve had this Christmas with family, apparently the following makes you a snob:

1. Preferring £8 a bottle wine to a £4 a bottle wine.
2. Choosing to work in a profession.
3. Choosing to live in London rather than the ex-mining village you were born in.
4. Liking holidays overseas that are not on the Costa Del Sol.
5. Shopping at Ocado/M&S Food/ Sainsburys rather than Tesco or Aldi.
6. Investing in good quality clothing rather than lots of similar Marks & Spencers.

This is a thread about a thread

'nice' things are all relative

Oh hopefully OP has either got them hugely extravagant gifts or really stingey ones. Anything in between is just boring.

Op will be judged on them though.

I love a decent bottle of wine but I don’t think that makes me better than someone who enjoys a £4 bottle. I also don’t think living in London makes you superior to those not living in London. Great city to visit but not where I chose to raise my dc - doesn’t make London parents better than me.

I don't think saying you live in London makes you snobby tbh. Quite the opposite. I think you're good OP.

Everyone likes nice things, fgs. You’re not a snob for liking nice things, you’re a snob for thinking that spending more £££ means the things that you like are nicer.

@MooQuackNeigh
"Its a miracle he made something out himself really"

I know this is just an idiom but even tje "left behind" people are "something"., even if they don't earn as much or have as many choices.

It's sad when child reading is counted as posh though it's free, it's mind- widening, whats not to like?

It is isolating, OP, having family members get so defensive when you just want to have a nice time. Contrary to what some pps have imagined, I'm sure you don't sit there at Christmas dinner complaining loudly about the Costa Del Sol!

You can like the things you choose, but you keep your mouth shut about what they cost. In fact, enjoy the things you like quietly and don’t shove them in other people’s faces.

I suspect it's how you talk about things. Not YOU but general you.

Preferring £8 a bottle wine to a £4 a bottle wine. Prefer the taste of a specific £8 over a specific £4 or would refuse to touch something like THAT because you wouldn't be so tight when buying wine?

Choosing to work in a profession are you talking about being a high court judge or belittling the staff in a shop whilst leaving a new bedside that's all their food enough for

Choosing to live in London rather than the ex-mining village you were born in again, a comment about loving London living or a sneer about those who never escaped.

Some of it is snobbery, that's ok. Choosing a posh supermarket over a perceived working class one is a snobby choice. That doesn't make you a bad person.

Ah, the anti-London snobbery
You do know london is quite diverse don't you?

Hate to break it to you OP but no proper snob is going to be buying an £8 bottle of wine, that’s still cheap plonk to them.

having a preference re certain things is fine, but voicing them to others who may not be able to afford them is not.

and price doesn't necessarily guarantee quality.

either way, at any moment, any of us could become impoverished.

Are they proper free range eggs though? Because the standard free-range eggs are from chickens crammed into huge barns. There’s an outside area but it’s mostly impossible for them to get to it. That’s why they’re still very very inexpensive.

I think the Clarence Court eggs are from proper free range chickens.

I don't think it's so much the issue of them liking 'nice things' that makes them snobs,I think it is when they start criticising and being disdainful about other people's choices. I have a friend who is lovely in so many ways,but she is what I'd call a bit 'snobby' about supermarkets. In her opinion,unless you shop in Waitrose or Marks and Spencer,you have very low standards. She has been quite cutting about Aldi and Lidl.

I feel your pain, OP.

I grew up on a council estate in a shithole ex-mining town. I was the first person in family to go to university, I got a graduate job in the big city and I never really returned to my home town. The barbed comments started even before I left school. I came home one day with a copy of the Guardian and was called a pretentious little so-so. When I started listening to Radio 4 rather than Radio 1 or the crappy local commercial pop station it got even worse.

Now, I just ignore it all and get on with my life in my own way. The Basque Country is much nicer than Torremolinos anyway. Not that I have ever been to the latter…

I've realised I'm a snob from your post. Love point 3 😂

Now, I just ignore it all and get on with my life in my own way. The Basque Country is much nicer than Torremolinos anyway. Not that I have ever been to the latter…

but do you not see how this is snobby? Making scornful comments about and holding negative opinions about a place you have never been, and declaring your choice superior without experiencing the other option. People have made snide comments to you, but now you are doing the same in return.

Comedycook is absolutely right. With every point you've made, you've proved youŕ snobbery.

I think some people don’t like to see other people bettering themselves and actively try and keep people in ‘their place’ for example by saying things like…....it was far from £8 bottles of wine you were raised!

Lidle sells a good one under £4

Oh dear. My attempts at irony appear to have fallen on stony ground…🤣🤣

there was a newspaper article about a mix up with some ready meals made for eg m&s and they were the same as eg morrisons,and it was confirmed it was just different packaging that was diffferet

Wait a minute, Sainsbury's is same level tier as Waitrose and M&S?

It's making a point of how superior your taste is that makes it feel snobby. Everyone has a different level of what is a bit cheap/ everyday/ a bit special depending on their background and financial situation. Or what they prioritise in life.

It's kind and polite to appreciate people's choices without sneering either way about how posh or common they are. Or to be able to take it with a smile, unfortunately some people have miserable lives and can't resist a dig.

Upper/middle classes would think ( never say!) that you are being vulgar.