Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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

912 replies

kinzarose · 05/10/2021 22:28

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 🤣

OP posts:
lockdownmadnessdotcom · 07/10/2021 16:45

Oh a bit of my comment was deleted. I was going to say that when you have an academic job where you have to use your brain a lot, you want something easy to unwind like reading chick lit or watching Bake Off.

FirewomanSam · 07/10/2021 16:46

Cam22 I see you did your PhD in being a twat.

Yesitsbess · 07/10/2021 16:48

My (lovely) ex MIL used to enquire in her broad Teeside accent if we'd 'ad sufficient (imagine sufficient with far too many syllabuls) and I still say it like that now in my head!

I would also occasionally reply (in my head) "I am replete" Grin

Cam22 · 07/10/2021 16:55

@FirewomanSam

Cam22 I see you did your PhD in being a twat.
Oh wow. Ouch. 👍🏻
Cam22 · 07/10/2021 16:57

My husband is a university lecturer. It’s completely different for someone who is in academia to require one. For everyone else, it’s silly aka pretentious!

Cam22 · 07/10/2021 16:59

@Yesitsbess

My (lovely) ex MIL used to enquire in her broad Teeside accent if we'd 'ad sufficient (imagine sufficient with far too many syllabuls) and I still say it like that now in my head!

I would also occasionally reply (in my head) "I am replete" Grin

Syllables.
BoreiPuriHagafen · 07/10/2021 17:08

@Cam22

My husband is a university lecturer. It’s completely different for someone who is in academia to require one. For everyone else, it’s silly aka pretentious!
I'm sorry that we have offended you by defining ourselves as women in terms of our own academic achievements rather than those of our husbands.
Yesitsbess · 07/10/2021 17:12

@Cam22 gosh, you really did do your PhD in being a twat eh?

SILLYBULLS.

SW1amp · 07/10/2021 17:12

@Cam22
Have you been drinking? Confused

CounsellorTroi · 07/10/2021 17:13

My dad would find it upsetting too, apparently it used to mean I'm pregnant.

I think it still does in French, saying Je suis pleine means I’m pregnant!

HebalGerbil · 07/10/2021 17:14

My SIL.

Went to her house one Sunday for "lunch".

Got a chicken burger on a bun with some fried frozen chips. Her six year old son got the same.

Son asked for salt on his food.
She picked up a tub of Lo-Salt, opened the shaker part so he could see, before lifting it up and closing all but one of the little holes. She shook it vigorously from a height over his food and said, "there you go, sweetie". The kid was looking at his plate from eye level in the light, looking for the salt grains before licking one at a time off the plate.

Poor little guy, that burger and chips was disgusting without salt, as I myself was finding out.

That fat cow then sat down and troughed a whole lovely salty deep pan cheese and ham pizza while talking about the evils of salt.

Pretentious about salt consumption but only for the kids and taking no notice of the health implications of frozen junk food.

Really sodding weird.

cantgetmyheadroundit · 07/10/2021 17:14

@Cam22 Wow. Who pissed on your chips? 😂

IsayIsayBoy · 07/10/2021 17:15

16:57Cam22

My husband is a university lecturer. It’s completely different for someone who is in academia to require one. For everyone else, it’s silly aka

JUST WOW!

WomanStanleyWoman · 07/10/2021 17:23

[quote cantgetmyheadroundit]@Cam22 Wow. Who pissed on your chips? 😂[/quote]
I think you mean who provided an elegant sufficiency of urine for your fried potatoes.

cantgetmyheadroundit · 07/10/2021 17:25

@WomanStanleyWoman Goodness me, you're right! Just goes to show my husband doesn't have a PhD... Wink

Words · 07/10/2021 17:25

Loving this. Grin

The history of 'Elegant sufficiency' is quite fun.

AlfonsoTheDinosaur · 07/10/2021 17:33

@HebalGerbil

My SIL.

Went to her house one Sunday for "lunch".

Got a chicken burger on a bun with some fried frozen chips. Her six year old son got the same.

Son asked for salt on his food.
She picked up a tub of Lo-Salt, opened the shaker part so he could see, before lifting it up and closing all but one of the little holes. She shook it vigorously from a height over his food and said, "there you go, sweetie". The kid was looking at his plate from eye level in the light, looking for the salt grains before licking one at a time off the plate.

Poor little guy, that burger and chips was disgusting without salt, as I myself was finding out.

That fat cow then sat down and troughed a whole lovely salty deep pan cheese and ham pizza while talking about the evils of salt.

Pretentious about salt consumption but only for the kids and taking no notice of the health implications of frozen junk food.

Really sodding weird.

What a deeply unpleasant post that has nothing to do with pretentiousness but is just an excuse to have a dig at another person.
Margerine78 · 07/10/2021 17:36

Not much of a story but any excuse to slag off my sister as she is such a snob. She thinks the fact her new house has three toilets (one an outside one) makes her super posh/sophisticated so she brings it up all the time (which makes her look weird, like she's got some toilet fetish).

Biscoffee · 07/10/2021 17:38

@Suddenlyfamily5

My MIL telling me about her trousseau.
What’s pretentious about that? It’s what your going away outfit and honeymoon clothes were called and not so long ago either.
kinzarose · 07/10/2021 17:39

I just got another one in last few days, not sure if pretentious really but she definitely thought it was. A mum at the dc's (grammar) school, she's quite rough but because she lives in a semi and has dc at the grammar thinks she's very posh Hmm. Was telling me, "I'm considered very respectable around here... (the school)... I do wear a cardigan everyday you know". She then tilted her head to one side and raised her eyebrows at me as if I could learn a few things from her 😂

OP posts:
Margerine78 · 07/10/2021 17:39

I think the salt post fits completely - parents being smug about what they feed their kids can be very pretentious. I had a male friend who thought he was 'Dad of the Year' as his kid happened to love olives and humous and didn't eat crap. It's snobby for sure.

Fluffmum · 07/10/2021 17:40

My brothers wine snobbery.

angela99999 · 07/10/2021 17:43

@DaveCoaches

I don’t know if this classes as pretentious or just snobby, but overheard a woman bragging that she knew all the quiz answers about books but none of the ones about TOWIE and reality TV - fair enough but she was really sneery about it.
I'm not embarrassed to say that I wouldn't know the answers in the last two categories either. I don't see this as pretentious or snobby, just that I don't watch these programmes. I doubt I could answer the sport questions either but I'm guessing this wouldn't be seen as pretentious?
TheOnlyMrsM · 07/10/2021 17:45

fried potatoes
Surely for Cam22 only pomme frites would do?

lcl · 07/10/2021 17:48

A friend of ours ordered a £95 bottle of wine when we were out having a meal with them . Absolutely pretentious.