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 🤣

A school friend's parents were very good to me, but I remember getting told off for laying the table incorrectly. A literal schoolboy error - though I suspect that few people use fish knives for fish fingers.

@TicTac80

As a kid, I remember the wife of one of my Dad's colleagues talk about her a car (a Jeep). She pronounced it "J'eep". So, "darrrrling....can you move my J'eep?". She was a seriously snotty cow: she spoke to (and treated) the staff who worked in her house like they were dirt (and encouraged her children to do the same - I remember hearing them and being shocked). She used to buy stupidly expensive designer gear and then talk non stop about how expensive it was. We didn't see her (and her family) again after a few weeks. Turns out that the colleague had committed a huge amount of fraud/embezzlement, and he lost his job/got into deep shit. Hideous, nasty family.

Isn't Schadenfreude wonderful!!

New job woman asked, oh so do you live around here, I replied no, ahh so u live at so and so (bit rough) no, I live in so and so (very up market area) her face was a picture she toddled off. Didnt tell her I live at the cheaper end. Bloody nosey bag

@SoosanCarter

When I was at a Scottish University aeons ago, there was a chap who offered two different kinds of sherry to his visitors, complete with silver tray and sherry glasses. It was the hall of residence later popular with Kate and William.

I thought I was posh having a bottle of Ribena.

I've just asked my husband if he is the guilty party. He claims not to have had a silver tray

@WalkingOnTheCracks I'm in fits of laughter reading yours

Outing myself to SIL & any others who know me on here.....

Ex colleague, started off life in a council flat then her mother married a man with money and ex-colleague was suddenly sent to private school with a chauffeur etc. She then set about forgetting the first 10 years of life & would come out with statements like 'oh, this must be what state school dinners are like!' Not sure if she thought herself charming, but she just sounded like a dick.

Anyway, her & I were in Subway one lunchtime, discussing in-laws and I commented that mine had developed this notion my parents were posh because my mum keeps the house surgically clean & super tidy. She responded 'your parents house?? If they saw my parents house, they'd be approaching me on bended knee!' I looked around to see if anyone could appreciate the pretension. They couldn't.

DH & I still refer to Bended Knee if he's ever passing their house (which is a normal house in a posh suburb, if anyone was wondering)

Thanks Laurie, I've dined out on that for years!

@WheelieBinPrincess

As a nanny I hear ridiculous levels of parenting pretentiousness frequently.

I have been told, in a written contract, that’s absolutely fine to serve chicken nuggets or fish fingers occasionally but these should always be referred to as ‘goujons’. Mashed potato is ‘crushed’, and please never use the words crumpet or pancake. It is pikelet or crepe.

One boy I looked after was a 2nd Sept birthday- so heaps older than many in his year- his mum claimed she had to take him out of the vestry back door of the church rather than the main exit after the reception Christmas concert, because his part in the reading of ‘I’m a Little Reindeer’ was so fantastically brilliant it was likely to cause civil unrest amongst the envious other parents.

Thiiiis👏🏻😆

When I asked my mum's husband why he'd spent almost £80k on a new car he replied "because I'm independently wealthy & you're not"
Then I found out he was in debt & leasing it!

My former close friend who is now a FB acquaintance has got to constantly stealth boast about the money she has.

One of the latest is a picture of her dog sitting in the boot of her land rover and saying how much he loves it.

Another was a photo of the crows on her driveway who apparently wouldn't move for the landrover when she came up the drive.

Another was when she stayed in a Premier Inn and complained about how she and her daughter couldn't cope without their individual en suites.

She came from a very humble background (council estate, on benefits a lot of the time) and has always been materialistic. She has never worked but has been lucky enough to marry someone fairly wealthy.

A very elderly relative of mine used to call her mini cab driver her chauffeur, as in 'my chauffeur will be arriving soon'. This was applied to any mini cab driver (she didn't have a regular) and also used when she was speaking directly to them.

1. It’s PhDs. No apostrophe required!

Good girl/boy!

pats head

Biscuit?

I worked on a ticket sales company for a train company. I was speaking to a VERY well-to-do English lady who wanted to cancel her tickets, meaning she had to post her tickets back.

I gave her the address (I'm Scottish). "XX Gorgie Road, Edinburgh"

Woman: (Laughing patronisingly): "Dear, we pronounce it Georgie".

Fine. Send your tickets to Georgie Road. See if you get your refund.

I've just realised that this is patronising and not pretentious but I've written it out now so I'm posting it.

Wow really doesn't take much to rile up a mums netter does it?

@Bertiebiscuit guess not

Once sat next to a man in a pretentious London cafe who had a painted on pencil moustache

The most pretentious thing I have ever SEEN anyone do, rather than overheard, was at our local state primary school quiz night.

School was a real mixed bag of families - some very middle class (affluent area) but also quite a lot of single parents and families who struggle financially due to proximity with social housing. Not judging - just fact.

Anyway. On our table is a real mixed bag, including one of the wealthiest families at the school - massive house, amazing cars - the lot. Mum is LOVELY, Dad who is the high earner with the big job, has a bit of a reputation as a knob but whatever....

We win the quiz and headmistress and PTA mum bring the prize to our table - two huge boxes of chocolates, some bath stuff and two bottles of red and two bottles of white wine. They sort of laughingly joke about how we will divide it up and hand the stuff out. Knob dad is passed the box with the wine in it. He takes the bottles out and reads the labels and then, without a thought for anyone else, HANDS THEM BACK TO THE HEAD and laughingly says "I'm sure someone will eat the chocolates but I wouldn't cook with these. Were they tombola rejects? I"m afraid I can't make room in the cellar for this stuff"

It was awful and embarrassing and our lovely head went bright red as she took them back. About fifteen minutes later one of the mums whispered to me that she would have LOVED to get a free bottle of wine, so I went with her to the head to apologise and tell her we'd love the wine. It wasn't even a nasty desert wine or horrible Lambrusco - it was perfectly adequate pinot grigo and a rioja.

We made a big deal about putting them back on the table and Knob-Dad wasn't even embarrassed but instead, spent an hour droning on about his wine cellar and how wine was made and why the wine we were taking home was shit.

Pretentious cock.

Seen some years back in a newsagent's window in an affluent London suburb:

"For sale - paddling pool. Outgrown by doctor's children'.

@Nachthex

Seen some years back in a newsagent's window in an affluent London suburb:

"For sale - paddling pool. Outgrown by doctor's children'.

Ha ha ha

Hahaha that's brilliant.

Reminds me of an acquaintance's Facebook profile :

'Doing well. Living in Chester. Married to a doctor.'

Puts me in mind of the David Baddiel sketch about his mother - he said if he were drowning in a canal she would shout “help my son the Cambridge graduate is drowning in the canal!” 😁

@Granllanog

DHs aunt used to tell everyone that her daughter lived in Windsor.........we helped her daughter move, the house was next door to Slough Fire Station ( a few miles from Windsor and the opposite side of the M4)..........we still joke about it everytime we pass the Slough / Windsor junction on the M4

We live in the same place - but my mum would tell people that she lived 'West of London' She has moved now to Windsor and talks like the Queen is her best friend.

Someone I know is called Sharon. She considers herself wildly posh, and such a name clearly isn't fitting, so she insists that everyone pronounces it Share-on.

There is an not very well known influencer who only ever refers to her DH as "Dr-husband"

"what did you read at university?". I've been asked this more than once. Its such a fucking pretentious question that only people who've been to oxbridge ask. The rest of us study at university and have fun.

@Malin52

A young bearded man with a top knot outside a pub in Shoreditch smoking a pipe vape.

Me and DH were crying with laughter.

You want to get out more.

i also know a dentist who includes "Dr" in her signature.