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?

Mothers who dress or allow their pre teen & teenage daughters to dress like prostitutes. One of the mums at ds primary school was guilty of this, her 8 & 9 year old daughters were allowed to wear dresses that were so short you could see their knickers, make up trowelled on, sky high heels, we went to a party & both girls were sat looking miserable all night because their mum wouldn't allow them to go on the bouncy castle because they might damage their dresses. The other girls were dressed in leggings & T shirts, had a whale of a time on the bouncy castle & running round.

To me it’s doing or buying something not because you appreciate the style of it but because you think it’s what other people think you should be doing. Like trying to keep up with the Joneses but being a day late and a dollar short. For example, many years ago I had a weekend job in a major retailer and I was on the photo counter (in the days when people brought in rolls of film to be developed). If I saw one “baby soles of the feet” picture a day, I saw a thousand. The same for the hands in a heart-shape over the abdomen. Cute when the first person did it, tacky when the 100th person did it, even worse when the millionth person did it. Then came the fashion for family portraits to be in blue jeans, white t-shirts and bare feet in a blank white room, rolling all over the floor. Different when the first person did it. Tacky when the 100th one did it, and so on. Then came that awful fad of “live, laugh, love” all over the place. It might have meant something to the first person who did it. But all it showed for the 100000th is that they have a Wilko or Range in their area and no sense of individuality or style.

On a visit to the UK last year, I noticed in Primark as I went to stock up on socks that almost every single t-shirt on the boys’ and men’s sections had a US city or state on it or a sports team (real or fictional). It was cringeworthy. People buying t-shirts with place names on that they probably couldn’t even find on a map, much less have been to or team names of sports they don’t even know how to play or follow. Reminds me of a cousin of mine who named her child after a foreign city she had never been to (and is known for its high crime and high level of poverty). Why? Just why? Because they think it makes them look sophisticated to strangers. But it doesn’t.

This thread is hilarious, I've just read it and realised how utterly tacky I am!!

Grey walls, tick; crushed velvet sofas, tick; personalised number plate, tick; written slogan on kitchen wall, tick.

I still love all of these things and won't change them because others don't. I guess I'm just more aware now that others are probably judging me negatively on my 'new money' appearance. 🤷‍♀️

Having a big tv in my family is seen as gauche but I’m not too sure that fits the description of tacky . It does seem to be very common but not limited to the working classes

Anything b over 32’’ is considered gauche

It is much more subjective than a lot of people will admit. I've lived in various parts of the world and their ideas about what's tacky and what's classy are wildly different. It's not just the "class obsessed Brits" that have these debates. I think Brits are just more open about it.

I’m still a page behind on all the responses but I can’t resist this historical view of the MN stunt pineapple: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-53432877
New today - read it all, it’s fabulous.
It shows that even the very rich are very influenced by fashions.

Preserved stately homes show their owners certainly loved matchy-matchy too, though their descendants may have not maintained the decor perfectly.

It’s probably all personal taste and childhood influences but for me it’s about quality and pleasure.

So beautiful handmade beeswax candles smelling faintly of honey are lovely while a palm oil candle smelling of fake pomegranate and strawberry is not. Yankee or otherwise.

Roses from the garden that actually smell are infinitely better than supermarket roses that don’t, even if they have the odd bit of black spot. Walking into a room with the scent of real roses is unforgettable.

Things might be less perfect and take a bit more effort but are so much more enjoyable.

Handmade Xmas decorations rather than perfectly matching spray painted plastic.

A decent lined wool coat that might cost four times the price of a cheaper polyester one but is warmer and still looks new ten years later.

And it doesn’t have to be expensive. I have a friend who buys all her crockery in charity shops and boot sales. Nothing matches but supper at hers is always stunning & glamourous.

To me 'Common' is mostly about how people act e.g. spitting in the street, can't say a sentence without the F word, younique baby names etc.

Tacky are items people own that someone else would deem gaudy and ways of behaving such as name dropping.

@tankflybos
How do you pronounce a H? Huh? There is no other way than hay ch

Aitch, unless you want to sound common.

Great thread. I didn't know vertical blinds or Yankee candles were considered common. I think net curtains are tacky and hate them.

As for the TV being bigger than the bookcase, it's really difficult to buy a decent smaller TV now. Which? says that you have to go to at least 40 inch for decent quality. Our current one is 32 and anything bigger would overwhelm our lounge so I hope it survives a few more years.

You don't. The concept of tackiness (as with some outdated manners and the idea of cultural capital) is just a group of opinions disguised as facts designed to keep everyone in their place, allow some people to feel more superior than others and get people to spend their money. Fuck it and buy the things you like.

Its like there's a group of people who buy their furniture from barker and stonehouse and their decor from Next looking down at the people who have to buy their decor from B&M with no idea that there's another group of people looking down on them because their furniture wasn't inherited. It's all nonsense.

Now you see, I think you must be common if you think live, life, love is tacky because it’s not tacky anymore, it’s gone beyond tacky.

The first cheesy quotes on walls were probably hand painted on and done about ten years ago, they were probably fashionable. The second wave came about 7/6 years ago and were mass produced. Then they became tacky. (This was the stage that all grey interiors are in now)
But now you’re be being a bit mean if you called them tacky in reference to someone you know having them because they’ve moved into the league of “naff”, which is something quite sweet.

If you’re old money tacky and common would only be related to behaviour when talking about others. Like they give a fuck who has a Yankee candle. They presume you are just buying what you can afford, just as they do.

And if you’ve felt the need to come on here to defend an item you have that’s been listed in this thread and state the reason why you are sure it isn’t .... then you are probably common / tacky.

I definitely have tacky ornaments but I really don't care. My favourite a metallic pink fish with a tiny lucky cat on top.

Tacky/common is people who put their latest purchases on social media to brag. My friend just bought her daughter £500 Balenciaga trainers for her birthday and posted on FB.

Off topic but I had no idea vertical blinds were a thing in people's homes until MNs. I thought they were just in (old fashioned) offices.

I remember words on the wall nearly 20 years ago - hand painted in Latin. It was a bit naff then but unusual and people started copying. We went home after supper and I suggested FUCK above the bed to DH but he wouldn't let me.

Here’s a fascinating article about pineapples as status symbols which gives a bit of insight into the whole thing:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-53432877

Aw sorry I see someones best me to it! Definitely worth a read.

Someone round the corner from where I live has got a Ford Fiesta. They've had it sprayed brown and the Louis Vuitton logo put across it.

I admit I saw it and thought god that's tacky/naff. Looks like a giant fake handbag on wheels.

Any kind of wall decal, particularly ones that say anything like "live, laugh, love".

language is a big thing. My parents are immigrants so I have a mixed vocabulary we have pudding, a granny, use napkins, have a sofa but I eat dinner, use the toilet & relax in my lounge.

@JorisBonson

Any kind of wall decal, particularly ones that say anything like "live, laugh, love".

This is a really interesting question, thanks for asking it, OP! Not to list what we would categorise as tacky, but how do we know and why do we think that way ...

I think an early pp nailed it by saying it's how different social groups identify each other. Our notions of 'taste' are influenced by different groups we see around us and formed by our own desire to fit in to them or distinguish ourselves from them. Which is fascinating, especially when you consider your own taste and what that says about your values.

People who say 'only those who judge other people are common' and 'I don't pay attention to this stuff' are deluding themselves as we don't form tastes and perceptions in a vacuum (it's like the scene in the Devil Wears Prada where Meryl Streep explains to Andi how she may think she's above fashion but even the horrible jumper she's wearing was influenced people in that room). It doesn't make someone 'worth less' to have different likes to you, no, but you form an opinion on them and whether you are likely to be similar. Even the notion of the upper classes 'not trying as hard/ok to be themselves' is rubbish as they are using the same code as much as anyone else! Otherwise 'being themselves' wouldn't be so homogenous ...

OP, if you are interested in this stuff you should read 'Watching the English'.

This thread reminds me of the time I ditched a boyfriend because he made a disparaging remark the one time I wore a top from a high street shop. It was from warehouse and he smugly called it 'whorehouse'. I was raised by probably the snobbiest (though fabulous) parents in the world but that was beyond the pail for me!

Tacky/common - both mean lacking taste or refinement. I am a "everything in moderation'' kind of person.

Eg I adore scented candles and my favourites are Jo Malone and White Company. Last year, my kids and cleaner both got me Yankee candles for Christmas. I burned them with pride. Do they have a stronger more artificial smell? Yes. But it's what they could afford. Burning a few Yankee candles didn't suddenly make me common.

Pandora and Tiffany get slated on MN for being common. I wear both (especially my engagement, wedding and eternity rings) with pride, but equally I wear stuff from Boodles, Lucie Campbell, De Beers etc.

And back to warehouse, while I don't shop there very often, one of my favourite tops is from there. It's a leopard print sweater.

@coldplay

Everyone's view of what is tacky is different... I live in a city with a lot of working class neighbourhoods and in my view, based on experience, the following things are tacky/common.

• babies with unusual American type names. That are supposed to be different but they aren't because so many others have had the same idea.
• eyelash extensions. Just no. If you are going somewhere special, stick on some strip lashes.
• very long plastic nail extensions
• overly inflated lips
• anything branded with Michael kors
• houses with excessive ornaments on display outside or visible from windows
• kids going to school with all matching frilly elaborate hair accessories, usually holding up 2 high buns, scraped so tightly to the child's head, she is bound to have a terrible headache.
• crushed velvet sofas and curtains (think mrs hinch)
• Mirrored furniture and elaborate centrepieces with crushed glass. So expensive and terribly gaudy.
• small children in branded sports wear
• babies with their ears pierced, bangles era
• elaborate christening robes / holy communion dresses

The list goes on

Disclaimer, this is my opinion only!

Totally agree with the crushed velvet/ big thick curtains and crushed glass - it gives me nightmares *@coldplay*