What is the most pretentious thing you've seen someone do?

[kinzarose]

Inspired by another thread. When I was at university there was an older lady who thought she was vair posh, was very keen to have her designer labels on display and loved name dropping brands into conversation. We had a group tutorial over lunch once, so we all ate together. This woman took a two foot (yes, literally) wooden salt and pepper mill out of her bag, stood up and started grinding pepper onto the shop bought sandwich she had with her. It was just the most pretentious thing ever, she was a "food snob" apparently 🤣

@MrsScrubbingbrush

I have this picture in my head of him looking & sounding like the actor Simon Callow

I pictured him as Christopher Biggins 😅

Stuck up snobby mum I met at antenatal classed 33yrs ago, telling me about her friend who only takes the children on caravan holidays, saying they aren't proper holidays like going abroad are they. How wrong my kids have had wonderful holiday in caravans, as well as lots of foreign holidays and they have loved their caravan ones just as much.

Two colleagues who used to joke with each other in Latin and then guffaw with laughter while I looked on, none the wiser.

Working class people do shop at M&S, own ponies and go to uni, you know. They are allowed.

you're definitely middle class

Off-topic, but despite being on MN for four years, I am still completely befuddled by British notions of social class. I'm also confused about why people would fake an American accent since Americans don't seem to be widely admired in the UK.

This thread is still priceless.

@MintyGreenDream, you are correct. Coach refers to standard or economy seating on US airlines. It's coach/business/first class.

@iloveeverykindofcat

When I was in college there was a fellow student who every single day dressed, spoke and acted like a 17th Century European aristocrat, complete with ruffles embroidered coat, gloves and cane. Actually it was a bit of a mashup as he also wore a tophat. He was Chinese so the look was a bit incongruous anyway. I met him at a party and I thought it was some sort of costume/act, but it wasn't a costume party. He said he was 'charmed' to meet me. I was dumbfounded. When he walked away I said to the person who introduced us

'Is....what....is that a costume or...?' and she said
'No-one knows. He's always like that. No-one has ever seen him act any different'.

And until the day we graduated, he never did.

I love people like this. Why be like everyone else? Same goes for @dayswithaY ‘s pompous man, he sounds a character.

Met someone through work, who when asked, said she lived in a place she pronounced as "Batt-ErhSeeUh"
Turns out (after some perplexed inquisition) that she lived in Battersea, and was just a bit of a knob.
Can't rename a place just because you're embarrassed, love.

@84Win

Met someone through work, who when asked, said she lived in a place she pronounced as "Batt-ErhSeeUh" Turns out (after some perplexed inquisition) that she lived in Battersea, and was just a bit of a knob. Can't rename a place just because you're embarrassed, love.

What's wrong with Battersea ?

@minou123

I was told off my friends mum.

Apparently, it is very unladylike to say "I'm stuffed" if you are full.

You should say "I'm Complete"

My parents were killing themselves laughing when I told them.

We all still say it 25 years later

My ex MIL used to say " have you had sufficient ?"

DameMaureen
I have no idea! That's what I was confused about... It was just the way she completely changed the pronunciation, and then seemed put out when I realised she actually meant Battersea. Strange lady.

At a party a guest who was dieting brought her and her husband special plastic plates with dividers in them. They then filled up one divider with protein, one with veggies, etc. At home fine (I guess) but can’t you mentally divide your plate when you are out, and of course everyone inquired about the plates which led to the discussion of the diet they (were, aren’t any more) on.

Also keeping up with the school run crowd’s choice of vehicle. Who cares?

A very desireable area in the North West is Worsley which in the 1970's reorganisation was 'moved' into Salford, not sure some people are over it even yet, Salford definitely isn't on their addresses if they can avoid it. At the same time other areas started to class themselves as Worsley when they were certainly not, it makes for some laughs

HA! JudgeJ and its definitely Salford, "posh" Salford or not

I was waiting outside my daughter's ballet class in Dublin when another mum commented "oh your pregnant!, This is my neighbor she is due soon. Who is your consultant?" They are both looking at me and I reply " I don't have one I am going public". "Oh dear! (Looking aghast) I suppose it will all work out alright in the end" and hastily moved away.

Acquaintances who had an extension above their garage, they had a room built over it which was used mainly as an office, and suddenly started calling it 'the barn'. They live in a perfectly urban cul-de-sac on an estate of hundreds of houses.
Also an acquaintance who hasn't worked for years but has a girlfriend with a very wealthy family keeps posting on Facebook extremely expensive items he has 'bought' for her. Obnoxious.

I remember it from Home Alone

Not intentionally pretentious, but brought home to me the fact that some of my pupils had a very different childhood from my own.....Year 3 residential trip to a rural study centre. The boys had spent a blissful time since arrival haring around getting muddy, until I called them in for their first communal meal.
One little cherub asked, in all sincerity, "Do we dress for dinner?"
I reassured him that removing wellies, donning slippers and a handwash would be just fine.

@EdgeOfTheSky

I like Ptolemy as a name but the spelling makes it hard to use, I think.

I know a Ptolemy. Everyone calls him "Tolly"

An old colleague ran a large scale competition (marketing type business) for a stay in a quite prestigious hotel. The winner was automatically selected (and there are quite heavy rules/laws to abide by in commercially ran competitions to ensure impartial fairness). She googled the winners postcode and decided they weren't affluent enough to win and might show her up with her hotel partners. Kept running winners until she deemed one worthy enough based on where they lived....
Same woman told me she shopped at Waitrose just for 'the experience'.

An acquaintance of mine made a comment about my kitchen which is, I freely admit, very small. "It's surprising how good the food is you turn out considering this tiny kitchen". It made me laugh to myself because she has an enormous kitchen but lives off ready meals and takeaways. Maybe she doesn't like the idea of her massive kitchen getting dirty.

My ex MIL used to say " have you had sufficient

That’s derived from elegant sufficiency

A few years ago was attending an academic conference in one of those university cities, and as I was grabbing a coffee from a nearby coffee place before the conference began (it was maybe 20-30 mins after school dropoff time) and overhead one Private School Mum complain to another that "Soandso's child has been given the role of Mary in the [prep school] nativity and God knows why because she can't EVEN pronounce 'sepulchre'".

I know a Ptolemy. Everyone calls him "Tolly"

Same here - I wonder if it's the same one

Someone on our street has a CBE, and insists on using it all the time on our whatsapp group

The former chair of our County Council had a CBE and used it in his Twitter username after his initials so if his initials were XYZ the username would be 'xyzcbe'. (He was known for constantly tweeting his opinions, before this became fashionable.)

Oh god this was me last year. Was out with friends and bemoaning the fact that dh and I had had a falling out over a car I’d had my heart set on. I wanted it and he didn’t and I was furious. I may have been a little over invested.

And then we bought one anyway.

I used to work with the most pretentious snob ever. She would make loads of personal phone calls arranging her social life.

She would ask if their was “parking” for her friends helicopter.
Would mention her housekeeper (cleaning lady)
say she used to be a dispensing chemist at Boots (worked behind the checkout)
She was learning the harp (of course) and needed an estate company car to lug it about.