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?

Cheryl Cole gave the best come back to someone journo when they referred to her as a chav. She said- do you mean a working class lass whose done well? Then yeah, I’m a chav.

Which I thought was very apt! And although o don’t care for Cheryl, I did find some respect for how she handled that.

@derxa

Although we definitely look down on new money acquired by people who are intellectually challenged. Footballers, their WAGS, the towie generations and social media influencers for instance That is a horrible generalisation born out of jealousy. Personally I don't believe that Arsene Wenger, Gary Lineker, Marcus Rashford and Gareth Southgate, Frank Lampard and Christine Lampard are intellectually challenged at all. I don't look down on 'new money' at all. The Duchess of Cambridge has suffered a great deal from this type of snobbery as has the Duchess of Sussex. The happiest people are those who don't give a fuck about what people think of their choices.

Personally you don’t have to believe anything. That’s why it’s called an opinion. That’s the whole function of this forum. It’s opinion based, none of the assertions go through rigorous scientific testing. So take it easy.

@Atalune

Cheryl Cole gave the best come back to someone journo when they referred to her as a chav. She said- do you mean a working class lass whose done well? Then yeah, I’m a chav.

Which I thought was very apt! And although o don’t care for Cheryl, I did find some respect for how she handled that.

Her being a chav (and she is) has nothing to do with her being working class.

Sometimes it's being in the wrong clothes, white stilettoes, low neckline etc and everyone else is in tweed skirt and knitted tops that is an error.
Shrugging your shoulders and carrying on shows confidence.
Not realising it and you might well be thought common.

Chav is a horrible word.

When I take my son to parties in WC areas, generally the kids arrive looking perfect with expensive clothes on

I assume that's in the same vein as "Sunday best" , "the good china" etc.

Where I come from she'd be called white trash.

Referring to people as white trash , is tacky,common and dickish.

Chav is a horrible word.

It really isn't, it describes a certain style that some youngsters have/wear.

It has been mis-used though and thrown about to describe people from poorer families who aren't chavs at all.

Yes, chav is horrible. But what do you call them? Tasteless?

Cheryl Cole has a conviction for ABH. Delightful.

It’s rather horrible to call anyone a chav or white trash.

Do you call black people the N word? Or how about women who wear short skirts- are they slags?

zhamp yes she has. It is horrible. What’s that got to do with anything? Is she “cancelled” now?

She may well be unpleasant. But I thought her self possession and calling out someone deriding her like that was great.

If my SIL likes it, it's tacky. Simple rule of thumb but it works for me

What’s that got to do with anything?

Because deep down, no matter what people say it's about a moral judgement, it's about a person and who they are, how worthy they are.

People try and hide beneath "oh it's things not people" and what not but that's just lip service.

I actually don't like any of those words (as in chav/white - trailer trash) but they do define a very specific type of person. Oddly enough that word is universal (as in who it defines) in Mexico they call them "nacos" in Argentina "villeros", etc... I personally don't use them but I really struggle with another word. Low class? As in lack of class?

Why is chav a horrible word. If it has connotations of an insult, then people are choosing to be insulted but dressing like chavs. No one rolls out of the womb wearing a Burberry baseball cap or head to toe tracksuit, or huge hopped earrings or long hair extensions, the list goes on.

@Atalune

zhamp yes she has. It is horrible. What’s that got to do with anything? Is she “cancelled” now?

She may well be unpleasant. But I thought her self possession and calling out someone deriding her like that was great.

But she actually didn't get it. And neither do you.

Thanks to this thread the ads for mirrored furniture are stalking me.

No way do I want unexpected reflections of my semi naked body from all my bedroom furniture!

I’m not posh at all but definitely not what people would call common (well educated, live in a nice area and good career etc). However it seems I have a few things off the MN tacky list that I love and quite frankly don’t care what people think! I love my pandora bracelet and classic Tiffany necklace; the bracelet was a present and it means a lot to me and the necklace is just something I’ve always wanted so I bought myself one

Personally you don’t have to believe anything. That’s why it’s called an opinion. That’s the whole function of this forum. It’s opinion based, none of the assertions go through rigorous scientific testing. So take it easy. Thanks for explaining Mumsnet to me. I had no idea.

My late mother had a long list of things and activities she thought of as "common". One was women smoking in the street. Common!
Eating in the street. Common! (She'd have a fit nowadays to see the amount of Street Eating that goes on).
Drunk women. Common!
Nearly all her pronouncements were aimed at women.

Nearly all her pronouncements were aimed at women..

It's the same throughout most of this thread tbh.

Everything can be considered common or tacky - I'd hazard that plenty of the posts on here with lists of "tacky" stuff are written by people whose homes/belongings would be considered tacky by another person.

The whole concept of giving much of a fuck about another person's place and position in the world is inherently ridiculous. I drive an X5 and have seen it crop up on people's lists as chavvy - if anyone wants to try and get through to the farm in the dead of winder with a horse box on the back of their bicycle, feel free. As @NancyPickford says these things are nearly always aimed at women, it's simply another way of keeping us in our place and it's bullshit.

Fresh acrylics with a subtle flash of the financed to the eyeballs range rover steering wheel in the background. Followed by a trip to the local Starbucks with the grey French bulldog puppy. Second pic of nails as the Rolex wasn't clear enough in the first pic. Meal at generic expensive restaurant preferably with a Thai chef cooking something that looks good on boomerang, with a pornstar martini. Forgot to mention all #sociallydistancedofcourse🙈 home to a clear glass mug of green tea and a face mask before hopping into grey bedding in a white bedroom lit up by fairy lights.