To ask how do you know which things are 'tacky/common'?

[TheHydrangeas]

On here I sometimes see certain items, behaviours, homeware, fashion, makeup, etc classed as "tacky" or "common". Sometimes I can understand it, but other times it is things that seem pretty innocuous. Despite this you see this kind of unanimous belief that those things are "common". However I can't really find an underlying pattern to what is deemed to be tacky/common and what is not. Is there any kind of theme or pattern to this? One example is I remember reading a thread where a pretty popular brand of scented candles were classed as tacky.

I also want to say that I am not trying to portray other users negatively as judgemental or anything, we are all entitled to our opinions. I am just interested from a broader point of view - how do certain things become tacky or common?

Good question! Somehow you just "know", but how exactly? I can't answer that one.

Yankee Candle or something? Just not what you’d ever find in a shop in a posh area.

I’m not British and the whole class thing grates on me but I’d say the brand thing is pretty obvious as certain chains only open in certain areas. When you look at the locals, they’re pretty identikit too.

I don't really give a flying one if someone finds something I like 'tacky' or 'common'. When they pay they get a say. I'd rather like something because I like it rather than because I'm 'supposed' to or because it's trending on Insta.

Generally on MN you'll get some people pretending to be champions of the working classes claiming that common is anything working class, meanwhile most people who are or have been working class will say there's a difference between been working class and common.

Then there'll be a few people who claim that no items or trends ever develop negative associations (in true MN fashion knowing deep down they'd never have any of the items that come up on the thread but it's fun to play pretend).

In reality tastes and what's often considered tacky or common is a subtle set of norms and attitudes that people often end up 'knowing' without knowing how.

Of course by page 4 someone will claim that class and attitudes to items/trends being common only happens on Mumsnet 🤷‍♀️

I think it’s things that were seen as on the fringe, then trendy and then everyone had it, bit maybe bigger.

I think it's an issue of quality, for instance soy candles with essential oils will burn without giving off noxious gases & smell like real plants. Whereas tacky candles are made from petroleum & synthetic fragrances & can smell like loo freshener. That would be how i see it, and of course you can extrapolate this across any product really.

Showy and ostentatious is often seen as tacky and common. So flaunting designer brands (not discreetly) for instance. I guess it’s to do with class, somewhat but more about intellect and what things someone might value. Think footballer with a tacky colored Range Rover or footballers wife with tacky hair extensions, branded handbags, pictures on a beach somewhere. But you would never see a tech billionnaire wearing or putting their wealth on public display like that.

Is it assumed lower class stuff is considered tacky or common? Having said that, people pay a lot of money to do stuff I'd consider tacky eg brows, hair extensions, nails etc in salons....I don't know. Why are Yankee candles tacky? Is it because they're horrid or because they're not Jo Malone??? Is stuff of the masses considered common eg Yankee candles - everyone has one as they're usually given at Xmas by people who don't like or know you v well (or well enough to know you don't like them!)

Oh FGS, what's wrong with Yankee Candle?

Yes. Footballers' wives. That look. They pay a lot of money to look like that!?

Grottyfeet, they're tacky and common, but apart from that they're fine.

“Tacky” = “not having the same taste as the Person With An Opinion”

“common” = available widely, so not expensive or exclusive to insiders.

My Christmas decorations are tacky. I like them.

I think clothes that are cheap can look cheap. I live in cheap clothes but I search out ones where you can’t really tell that the materials are cheap quality. Some non leather boots really look like leather but others look like plastic. I think tacky is equal to cheap looking in my mind. It is complicated however as sometimes you can buy or decorate things in a tacky way as an ironic statement which then becomes cool. Sorry if this is not that helpful! But as a rule, maybe go for items that look natural, organic, non-synthetic, similar to more expensive alternatives.

When something becomes popular with working class people, especially if it's something a working class family would have to save up for and be proud of owning, it suddenly becomes tacky. Hot tubs seem to be the latest thing that's become "common".

Yankee Candles, for example, are a luxury item for working class people because they're more expensive than a small £2 candle, and because it's branded. As soon as they became popular in this group, they were deemed tacky. Branded handbags, especially Vivienne Westwood and Chanel, are now frequently seen as tacky after they became an item that working class mothers would save up for to buy their teenage daughters for their birthdays.

If any item is popular within the traveller community, its demotion to "tacky" is far more swift and it will be derided 10 times more.

When a character like Kat Slater starts wearing it? my leopard print coat

You don't know it...there's nothing to know. It's an opinion and objective

I'd rather like something because I like it rather than because I'm 'supposed' to or because it's trending on Insta.

I think once things start "trending on insta" then that item often tips into the "tacky" bracket.

I don't do candles but I thought when I buy one as a gift for someone I don't know well enough to get a real present I was getting something decent. They're certainly not cheap.

Yankee Candles, for example, are a luxury item for working class people because they're more expensive than a small £2 candle, and because it's branded. As soon as they became popular in this group, they were deemed tacky. Branded handbags, especially Vivienne Westwood and Chanel, are now frequently seen as tacky after they became an item that working class mothers would save up for to buy their teenage daughters for their birthdays
Nail on head there.
I say that as a tacky commoner. who looks really well despite been a commoner It is really sad parents break their heart saving for an LV purse for their DD only to be branded a chav.
When world's collide snobs emerge.

My Christmas decorations are kitsch. Your nail art is common. Her Yankee Candles are clearly beyond the pale.

This makes me think of Alan Bennett talking about his mum and her obsession with things being 'common'. Like Alsatians.

Vivienne Westwood or Chanel?! I don’t know any parents buying their daughters actual Chanel. Bit of a difference! I am tacky and common so would probably know.

Saying things are common is common.

@OneEpisode

“Tacky” = “not having the same taste as the Person With An Opinion”

“common” = available widely, so not expensive or exclusive to insiders.

My Christmas decorations are tacky. I like them.

Maybe the meaning of common has different regional interpretations, that's not what it means to me when being used in the same way as tacky of chavvy. Expensive things can see be common, it's not to do with cost

I don't know OP. I'm probably tacky so if I haven't a clue but sure if I don't notice then what odds is it?