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?

Just been reading through, I wondered how long it would be before someone picked on Mrs Hinch!

Who cares if it's not to your taste?

Can you imagine how wonderfully tacky, glittery and vibrant our homes and clothes would be if little kids got to choose the decor

I have glitter on two walls and.. uhmm..erm .. glow in the dark paint! Bring on the pitchforks.

Mrs H is not aspirational to my life so I've no interest but if others want to follow & fund her I don't really get the criticism. It's like some people are huge fans of Take That or the Queen. Is it the fan girling that people find tacky or the person being fan girled?

@MrsDrudge

Who was it that said you are common “if your telly is bigger than your bookcase”?

We have a big telly but also bookcases in every room in the house apart from the bathroom.

@Beefcurtains79 my son has obviously met my husbands ex wife many times, both my children have. Why wouldnt they have done?

For all those posters thinking its a snidey comment it's really not, you can laugh at someone of you can laugh about a situation. The reality is we are about as different as two people could possibly be yet he married both of us. We encountered a joke article which further illustrated our differences, simple as that.
She would also say we were as different as chalk or cheese. Its perfectly clear she hates my house and everything in it, ste said so, I've never commented on hers. That said we are still civil, meet and have drinks etc as we are together all part of a blended family now.
Everyone us different take it how you want even if it's not how it was meant.

@Wolfgirrl "make my house look like a mortuary" made me snort!

My house is all cream because neither of us is capable of making a decision about a colour but I do find all grey a bit disconcerting.

I think Pandora jewellery and hair extensions are tacky but will be polite and admire other people's if I have to.

I do wonder if my fear of appearing tacky or just get things a bit wrong is why I am impossibly uncomfortable in anything other than my jeans and plain T-shirt uniform and why my house is so bland!

@BatleyTownswomensGuild I have a pair of flamingos in my garden! DH hates them but I love them.

The tacky and common are the SHEILAAAHs Sheila and BACKAYYY Rebecca and WHITNAAYY Whitney and JAMAYYYY Jimmy those hideous guests on Jeremy Kyle.

The reality is we are about as different as two people could possibly be yet he married both of us. We encountered a joke article which further illustrated our differences, simple as that.

This is bollocks. If she had been the one with 'classy' tastes, and you were into hot tubs, you wouldn't have been making such a joke of it. You were feeling superior - just own it!

I think net curtains are tacky and hate them

So do I. Unfortunately, unless we want every random passing our house peering in, I just have to grit my teeth and put up with them on the downstairs windows.

Anything that is described as "classy" or trying to be "classy" would qualify as tacky...

Anything that is to show off or jump on a bandwagon.

@VinylDetective

I think net curtains are tacky and hate them

So do I. Unfortunately, unless we want every random passing our house peering in, I just have to grit my teeth and put up with them on the downstairs windows.

Try blossom and brush for pretty window film instead?

Nb : I have both net curtains and window film in different parts of the house
I like both

@britwifeinusa please stop hahahahahhahahaa. I am actually in bed with my hubby . Hes sleeping after his night shift and I am actually in stitches reading your comments trying to laugh silently but because it's so funny am shaking the bed while laughing and its waking him up.
Lol rolling on the floor in a white studio. Hahahahaaha. It's TRUE. Millions do that and think its top notch.

Tacky and common are just ways where people look down their nose at others because their self worth is so bad that it's the only way they can feel good.
It is different to other forms of snootery where you choose location over house size for example because you want to live in a nice place.
In this case you are looking up and feeling proud of your achievements, instead of down at others.

I find studio family portraits a bit tacky full stop. Prepared to be flamed.

@GlamGiraffe

DH was married previously and his ex wife and I are startlingly different uo thdcextengceven our 4yo son asked how daddy had married her and me when we were so opposire) DH always ssid he and EX wife had nothing much in common (I've met her and seen her house and this semes true). We laughed much when a couple of years ago we csmexaccross an article about what items are 'tacky and only common people' own. She owns and adores every one on the list (especially her super sized hot tub with flashing lights) we have never owned any. It was just so funny as it illustrates even more how utterly different they are in every way. He says the reason they got married wa 45 years ago he desperately needed a suitable Jewish wife and she seemed quite nice!😬

Ironic as you don't come across as "quite nice".

@anonm for me it’s both; mrs Hinch has made a career out of cleaning an incredibly bland house and people buy into it. I’m the same way kim kardashian has made a career out of her arse. (Fair play to them making a lot of money out of zero talent, but is that really all people aspire to be?

I find reality celebs incredibly cringeworthy. You can not compare them to talented artists and musicians. And yet people aspire to be like them. There was an interesting section on Sunday brunch earlier about how as adults we mirror image and we are just as desperate to be part of the crowd as we are as teenagers but we are less aware.

So I guess it’s tribalism, we find out adult tribes and what doesn’t fit in is not as good?

Kids clothes with characters on are "common" to me. I really don't like them, although I'll make an exception for pjs.

[quote CornedBeef451]@BatleyTownswomensGuild I have a pair of flamingos in my garden! DH hates them but I love them.[/quote]
My dh rolls his eyes at some of the tat I insist on having in our home. I want some flamingos in our very natural, wildlife inviting garden but I've not worn him down far enough yet to get him to agree without it looking like I'm forcing him.

Everybody should really just own their choices, I like my big 55" tv because I spend time watching it, I love our rattan garden furniture that cost a fortune because I'm too lazy to garden furniture shop any more than once every ten years. I also love my grey carpets and curtains because I love the colour grey.

However I hate Yankee candles because they hurt when you drop them in your foot because you forgot the 'don't lift from the lid' advice and they break a bone.

It's only since being on MN that I realise how very common I must appear to people with my Yankee Candles and my instant coffee (the horror!).
My DH's family are titled, however, and my DMIL could have written an entire dossier on what she considered common from calling rooms by the incorrect name (lounge - shudder!), having a 'patio' (grim), using a 'serviette' (beyond the pale) and watching ITV. She liked me though and she particularly adored my Dad who was incorrigible and teased her mercilessly about her little snobberies.
Interestingly, she definitely considered having a jug of milk on the table far more common than having a bottle, which was correctly sterilised and didn't dress itself up as fancy . She was out and out 'green wellies, damp dog and massive estate car that was filthy' posh but she was also the biggest penny-pincher in the world. This is something valued by those not common, and why they would not dream of spending stupid money on bling but would invest in - for example - decent cashmere that will (and did) last forever.

@ReceptacleForTheRespectable I never commented on my taste, I certainly didnt use the word "classy" which is a exacyly the opposite to what it is supposed up describe in itself!
It's a conversation about a joke. Not about having a dig at a person, a joke about differencences. She comments yo my face how she dislikes my house and how she thinks I'm too thin for her liking. I dont. Were different people. Shes aloud party animal, I'm not, her house is flashy full of glitz, mines full of years of collected and inherited furniture and one offs. We are different its as simple as that.

A very well to do friend of mine once explained it to me.

You can tell those who were born to money and those that acquired it. Generally those that acquired wealth will flaunt it and buy tacky (read naff, blingy etc) overly expensive items to brag. Those who were born to it don't feel the need to do this. Those born to it refer to the new comers as 'neuvaux riche'. Think the likes of footballers and their wives or rappers as compared to lords and ladies. Amongst the gentry it's considered poor taste to flaunt your wealth.

Common is just something that everyone has. When something becomes trendy it inevitably becomes common and this sometimes overlaps with tacky - for example Burberry and Louis Vuitton

I never commented on my taste

...except to carefully point out that it's the opposite to hers, and you own none of the things on this list of thing which are considered conmon/tacky.

And in your latest post you make sure to point out how much of what you own is inherited or one-offs.

You're only fooling yourself.

Thank you to the pp for the Nicky Haslam list of common things.
I now know both “swans” and “Oxfordshire” are common.
Also washing hands after using the loo, apparently.

God, some of the arseholes on this thread trying to demonstrate their superiority and "class"...
All they're actually demonstrating is that you really can't fake it.