Is this money embarassment or classism or what else?

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Why do people react so strongly about anything new/shiny/'flashy?
Everything seems to be 'naff' and 'chavvy'.

Ok i dont personally like some things i.e. designer clothes, flashy cars, gold, pools but i don't mind if others like them. It brings some fun in our streets.

Some other 'naff' things i do like them i.e. leather sofas, i-phone, electronic gates.

Too much modesty is boring. We need some glamour

Why are people so scared of commiting the 'chav/naff' sin? Is this to do with 'classism' or something else?

Just you wait...no one can outbling the yumski mumskies.

We know a couple where the wife is from Moscow and the husband from Las Vegas. Now you really should see their house.

Electronic gates kill small children and advertise that you have something to steal.

My parents' friends consider any TV with a screen over 24" to be vulgar. Don't get this reasoning at all, and now they are in their 70s and 80s with failing eyesight they may regret their stance!

I WANT to see their house!! Does it have gold taps and flashy lights and a hot tub....ooh I fancy a good nosey round that :)

Dh and I are friends with a lovely couple who are extremely naff when it comes to their flashness; incredibly expensive cars replaced every year, new sofas, always the latest widescreen (in most rooms ), dinner and hotel stays in the most expensive of places... I think they scratch their heads at dh and I happily living in a rambling Georgian 'pile', driving an eleven year old, scruffy Volvo estate. They must wonder why we don't sell our house, buy somewhere cheaper and stick a couple of new white Range Rover Sports on the drive! But it's just not our style! Each to their own I say.

catgirl it is ace. Like a cross between Trump Tower and Versailles Palace.

Their electric gates are white and gold, I shit you not.

The kitchen is entirely made of reinforced glass. And no one ever cooks anything. Ever.

But they are fun. Whenever we visit we have a ball. Which can't be said for all those worrying that something they might buy might be considered naff by someone they don't much like anyways.

I'm with you wordfactory - I like interesting neighbours/friends with their own taste even if it is a bit batty.

Oooh that sounds brilliant! :) Am of your exciting neighbours.

Not neighbours. They live in the middle of London, naturally enough.

They have invited us to spend half term in their gaff in Las Vegas, though and I cannot wait.

Aaargh! Just failed the "vulgar test" all because of dh and his penchant for stupid size tvs (apparently sport can only be watched on a big tv). I was doing so well.

OK I was before. Now there just is now suitable smiley! I LOVE Vegas - it is the naffest place in the world and it is FAB! I got married there....(off the naff scale no?)

Have you been before? - you will have a blast - especially staying with a person who lives there I imagine!

No I have never been...but I know I'm gonna love it.

Apparently our friends' house is just outside the main bit. I can only imagine there will be a white grand piano and maybe a three tiered pool with marble statues and gold tiling .

And there will be a floor to ceiling fridge filled with mineral water, vodka and champagne.

stop it you're killing me :)

DH has promised we can go back for our 5 year anniversary but that is 2 whole years away :(

Drink a few naff cocktails for me wordfactory

We have brown leather furniture. Buttoned 19th Century - looking a bit knackered tbh but its time will come again . Goes with the dated brown mahogany dining set and granny's china which I googled the other day and think we might now need electronic gates. Rarely spend a bob, drive an 11 year old car and closed my Harrods account the day Al Fayed took over (only had it for the loos anyway which were a pound but had fab perfume). They're free in Fortnums .

The most well off people I know have holes in their clothes, cars that are falling apart and houses that are falling down!

Says it all!
Have stumbled across far too many very comfortably off (always middle class) people who liked to think of themselves as minor Ibsen characters ('poor but worthy', you know), and saw some kind of moral superiority in whining about how poor they were (but had strange sense of entitlement to long holidays, creative professions, etc.). I'm fairly certain that they'd never in fact had to worry about money in their lives and can only imagine that these aesthetic choices had something to do with some strange sense of guilt.

Harrods is very naff. For tourists only.

LeQueen, wot sort of tele ave you got then ? Izzit a biggun ?

Cos I bet mine iz bigger and plusher innit

i spend money to be minimalist and not blingtastic
vulgar to have too much gear - smacks if insecurity,need to show conspicuous spending

catgirl - What's so naff about tourists? I bet you're a tourist sometimes?
(or are all your holidays some kind of enlightened 'travelling' that the rest of us plabs couldn't hope to understand, let alone do? )

I don't know any of those Tchoo. But I much prefer the sound of Wordfactory's fun friends to them...the "poor but worthy" sound very dull :(

No no tourist are not naff. Harrods is.

And I just said I got married in Vegas on holiday - I don't think I could have been much naffer?

Oh, catgirl I'll have to actually read this thread now!
Let me have a look...
(no, you don't seem like a 'worthy traveller', btw - far from it!)

Well obviously I just went to Vegas to do Trudie Stylers "Yoga Warrior" DVD and eat organic houmous in a yurt

I have pointed out a few things that are considered naff, and while I don't do flashy myself, I do like a bit of fun!

ahem Catgirl I hate to mention this but YOUR VEGAS DAYS ARE OVER.........until your new arrival goes to Uni!

aw shit I knew the Range Rovers would get a hit

yes :( not the ideal place for a baby.......

bugger!