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?

Thank you for all of the replies so far, I have really enjoyed reading them.

This thread has made me think about the concept of "Hinching". I can definitely see that there is this divide with cleaning and cleaning products. On the one hand you have people using lots of cleaning products to make their home immaculately clean. On the other hand you have people using more organic/natural products and not being as focussed on ensuring everything is pristine. There is nothing wrong with either approach and I am not judging it, but there definitely is this dichotomy. I think the focus on natural/organic things is present in other things too like using natural/organic beeswax or soy wax candles rather than paraffin wax. Is it increased health consciousness or is it a preference towards simplicity?

I think that simplicity and naturalness are perhaps the antithesis of "tacky". For example when I am browsing Pinterest or Instagram for home inspiration I think non-tacky (for lack of a better description) is always quite simple and natural. For example an old English cottage vs. a sleek modern home, a simple kitchen appropriate to the style of the house vs. a glossy grey kitchen, a garden with a lawn and wild flowers vs. astroturf and no plants, etc. I make no judgements with these examples and I am not saying sleek modern homes, glossy kitchens and astroturf are tacky as I don't think they are in the right context.

Although I agree with previous posters who said none of this really matters anyway. Furthermore, there will always be people higher up on the class system looking down and judging you anyway, even the future Queen (!) has experienced this.

1. Aldi candles

1. Hinching

1. Crushed velvet sofas

(Anything crushed velvet)

1. Jewelled pictures eg. The Chanel ones with diamanté's. So. So. Chavy.

1. False nails that look like a french polish. In a square shape.

1. Fake mulberry bags from Turkey.

1. Asking to borrow someone's baby stuff

1. Lip fillers, hair extensions

When poor people start doing stuff or saving to buy stuff, it's generally considered tacky or common and that's about it. It's OK for royalty to hang huge portraits of themselves in the living room and live in ostentatious buildings.. It's OK for the Ritz to decorate everything with gold leaf. But if people of working class origin did this it would be considered tacky. It's an easy way to put people down and look down on other people. You may have got to be as rich as us but you don't have our tastes and our class. Similarly rich people of status can have dusty range rovers because they won't be judged. If young footballers drove dirty cars, they would be judged - he may be driving an expensive car but doesn't know how to keep it clean. Basically judging things as tacky is simply a way in which old established rich can look down on newly rich. They may be rich but don;t have class etc etc . How classy are the interiors of Buckingham Palace for instance? Isn't it all a bit gaudy and over the top? Surely in contrast pale grey exteriors are way more elegant and less ostentatious?

What is hinching?

Haven't read the full thread. I think what is tacky and common is caring what is tacky and common. I have a Michael Kors watch. It's a lovely watch that was lovingly gifted to me 5 years ago and would have cost my family member a lot of money at the time. I wear it with pride, and I'm well aware some people consider Michael Kors tacky, couldn't give a shit.
I wear what I like, buy what I like and don't get hung up on labels.
If you have your own sense of style and are not a slave to fashions and labels noone is going to think you're common or tacky.

Hinching = Mrs Hinch?

Cleaning obsession

I have a friend who has a bunch of friends - they're just tacky sorry! They're kind of like all lip fillered up - brassy blondes - fake tans - huge fake boobs - the husbands are in their 40s and wear like tight T-shirt's and trousers to the ankles with those leather kind of slip on shoes with no socks - bleurghh

They're into kind of Ibiza classics - think they're really cool and constantly on Instagram

BridgetJ Is there anything you consider 'tacky' / 'common' that ISN'T aimed at women? I mean, look at that list - it's pretty bloody misogynist (as are many of the other lists on this thread).

Why is everyone so keen to direct most of their class-based sneering at women?

Oh ffs. Seriously? @ReceptacleForTheRespectable

I am a woman so the first things I thought of were woman things!

I am a total hincher and cleaning obsessed!! I'm cool with it being tacky.

Always one 🙄

I was also thinking of someone I know who's a total chav. 🤣

@NotAnotherHelen

I went to a very old university which completely dominates the city, and which is attended by a lot of very wealthy UMC students. It was very much the done thing to spend the whole day in sportswear branded with your college crest, however scruffy. A friend of mine was from a working class background and could not believe how scruffy everyone was, pointing out that in her hometown if you dressed like that in the shops a security guard would follow you around. She told me that she tested this once by going shopping at home in her sports kit and sure enough she was fairly closely shadowed.

It is a very specific form of entitled privilege to feel perfectly confident in incredibly scruffy clothes, safe in the knowledge that the moment you open either your mouth or your wallet the person in front of you will be in no doubt of your social class.

I found myself in the unexpected position of attending an appointment at the Easterhouse (shit end of Glasgow) job centre.

Security guards were being dicks, man-handling a drunk at 10am and sneering at a woman who was clearly illiterate.

When I opened my mouth I was escorted to my chair, offered a coffee and over a giggle told I’d not be expected to apply for “their” jobs...

I left feeling like a total cunt.

I've sat and thought about what I would describe as 'tacky' and the thing they all have in common is that it's pretty much all about the perpetrator trying to get attention. So:

People who live in cities or built up areas driving Range Rovers. They don't actually need one because they are driving on perfectly smooth manageable terrain. But they get one anyway because it's a status symbol and they know people know how much it's cost them.

People who overshare/'check in' at hospital on Facebook. They're doing it so people will ask 'oh what's wrong' and they have (some) people on a little thread wondering what the matter is. It makes them feel important because they are getting attention.

People who buy their children stupidly expensive branded trainers/handbags etc. that cost hundreds upon hundreds of pounds even though they're only about 12 and can't appreciate it properly/will ruin it it in two weeks. They're doing it because they want people to be envious of them and notice that it cost a lot of money.

So yeah, it's an attention thing for me. I didn't immediately think of class - I know some 'old money' posh types who do the above and I think it's just as tacky as when anyone else does. But it's very interesting to read about the opinions of others.

@BridgettJ

Hinching = Mrs Hinch?

Cleaning obsession

😂It's fair to say I don't have one of these - I do aspire to having a cleaning obsession but that's just not enough is it, you actually have to clean. And I don't want a cleaner, I hated having a cleaner.

We can do a men’s list in the spirit of egalitarianism if you like!

Driving a heavily modified car, especially with an underlight.
Very large, prominent tattoos, especially on the neck. Full and half sleeve tattoos used to be very edgy and alternative but they seem to have crossed over, too.
Drinking Stella Artois (older) or Strongbow Dark Fruits (younger).
Routinely going shirtless outside of certain contexts, eg the beach, the garden, pool, maybe the park if sunbathing.
Spitting in public.

@PlumsInTheIcebox

We can do a men’s list in the spirit of egalitarianism if you like!

Driving a heavily modified car, especially with an underlight.
Very large, prominent tattoos, especially on the neck. Full and half sleeve tattoos used to be very edgy and alternative but they seem to have crossed over, too.
Drinking Stella Artois (older) or Strongbow Dark Fruits (younger).
Routinely going shirtless outside of certain contexts, eg the beach, the garden, pool, maybe the park if sunbathing.
Spitting in public.

It really doesn't balance out the fact that the vast majority of the sneering on this thread has been directed at other women.

It's hardly surprising though - the sheer number of posters who have said "My gran / mum said that women who do [X] are common"!Women have literally been brought up to sneer at and judge other women for being 'common', and some of that is going to stick.

It's fair to say I don't have one of these - I do aspire to having a cleaning obsession but that's just not enough is it, you actually have to clean.

Sadly I fall into the same camp as you!

I find brick wallpaper tacky! But then I love flamingos and have some of them dotted around the house. I like to think they are quirky. My H thinks they are tacky!

It’s undoubtedly the case that there are a lot of double standards and that women are often the target of much judgement. Equally I think it’s to be expected that on a site mostly frequented by women any thread like this is likely to focus on the behaviour of other women.

My perspective is probably influenced by the fact that in my family it is my Dad with the long list of ‘common’ behaviours. Like a lot of men in his generation he was born into a working class family and enjoyed a degree of social mobility through passing his 11+, which led to university and a solidly middle-class profession.

His list would include:

Any and all piercings and tattoos, including pierced lobes on women
Smoking
Reading red-top tabloids
Drinking lager instead of real ale or wine
Only listening to the top 40 rather than developing your own tastes in music
Sky TV (he only very grudgingly agreed to get a satellite dish a few years ago so he could get Freesat)

Went for a walk earlier. Central London. I saw - cold shoulder tops, children dressed matchy matchy, a bright blue old rolls really bright blinged up, a drunk woman outside a pub mouthing off at someone, various Ill fitting revealing outfits, some old grey tracksuits etc etc.

Now I could have named those things as common or tacky on this thread but When I saw them I didn’t think that at all - just things like ‘oh shame about the colour’ or ‘yep I really don’t like cold shoulder tops and haven’t seen them for a bit’ and ‘she’s having a bad day better cross over’ etc.

Noticed this because of this thread. Didn’t think tacky or common at all. I wonder if our heads know what we might find tacky or stuck up or dull etc but in reality we just rub along - more than we think ?

Any Chalet School readers in here? Because there are some interesting discussions on the CBB about Elinor M Brent-Dyer's idea of classy aesthetics, as opposed to tacky ones. Lots of make-up, perms, fashionable clothes, loud voices, ponytails, regional English accents and short skirts are vulgar; old/faded clothes, Princess Leia buns, deep musical voices, RP accents and 'fresh'/'trig'/'dainty' clothes are classy. Same with Joey's furniture, like the cretonne curtains and everything being covered in flowers, Laura Ashley style. Apparently it was a class marker.

PhilSwagielka Yes, indeed - poor Joan Baker with her perm and sophisticated evening dress, not to mention being interested in boys.

Yes @PhilSwagielka - and I think related to this is the near fetishisation of the pastoral and all those decent, ‘noble savage’ illiterate peasants of the Tirol who are happy to supply the girls with an endless source of milk.

See also Evadne, who is dreadfully brash and vulgar but Cannot Help It because she is American.

Just remembered another of my
bonkers mother’s favourite “ common” thing
Dogs are common, common people have dogs
You are not common if you have a cat
I can remember one of my sons gazing in astonishment at her when this gem was uttered.

Posting on online forums is the very definition of tacky and common.

Re what is regarded as tacky that isn't aimed at women:

• Men in souped up Mercs, BMWs and Range Rovers which are over specced with extra spoilers and loud engines
• Men with fake tans and overly groomed a la Towie with extra large gold watches
• Men who are only interested in Barbie doll birds with fake boobs, fake tans and fake everything
• Men who think women should stay in the kitchen or are intimidated by intelligent career women