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 🤣

@HollyandIvyandAllThingsYule

It really irritates me when people try to make out that ‘pan fried’ is prentious/wanky. It isn’t. It quite rightly differentiates between frying in a pan and deep frying.

Exactly. Would those people prefer we use the term "sautéed" which the Americans use to distinguish between pan frying and deep frying?

Not to be too pretentious, or pedantic, there is also stir-fry (the most common method of frying in this house), and shallow-fry. My wife also does something called oven-fry, which I think is sort-of baking/grilling.

Not that I would know, having been banned from the kitchen for 50 years. I just eat the food.

Agree with this, I'm a accent tart.
I pick them up so easily and dont lose them for a week or more.
I've been known to drawl often '30 dollars yeah' or whatever price something is because Im still in Canada or USA or Jamaica or franc or euro or whatever currency.
It sounds pretentious but it's not on my part.
My mangling of jamaican patois should never ever be mentioned.
I stunned jamaicans with how terrible it was. And made fuck all sense when I was home again.

@Toasteh you certainly weren't in Saudi if people were drinking champagne in a hotel or anywhere other than an embassy or it was home brew. Also unlikely to be travelling to KSA with your husband if he was on a business visa. Unless you are Muslim then I guess you may have been there. But still definitely not drinking champagne.

[quote myfaceismyown]@allFluffyBooBoo congratulations.[/quote]
Thanks ☺️

@WitchityGrubby

My DS goes to quite a middle class comp.

He has a friend, nice kid, who moans whenever Mummy can't get to M&S and he has to make do with Waitrose cakes in his lunchbox. Poor lamb!

'Quite a middle class comp' 😂

Cake forks and soup spoons useful, imo. You can manage without the rest.

"I've managed fairly successfully to eat cake and soup without specialist cutlery. It's really not too tricky.

(Although I'm not trying to suggest they are pretentious items. I don't think they are)"

Yes, you're right. It's perfectly possible to manage without specialist cake and soup implements. Cake particularly. Though I do find soup trickier with an ordinary spoon, personally.

It's often decribed on here as middle class aspirational, and this might be where the pretentiousness comes in, to be over-particular about correct cutlery for everything and set great store by it.

@Pigeonpocket I use the term sautéed too, tbf. French is perfectly acceptable when it comes to culinary terms, surely.

All this talk of fried foods is making me hungry!!

My family thinks using any type of fork for cake is pretentious. It's either a pudding which requires custard and a spoon, or it's cake which you pick up and eat with your hands.

Years ago we had a birthday party for DD1. A lot of our NCT group came and one woman's DD wouldn't eat the chicken dippers that were part of the birthday tea. Her Mum said to her (very loudly) "Never mind darling, it's a bit like the chicken we have at home, it's just that Little Hunting won't eat chicken unless it's got stuff coating it".

Back to cutlery. We can all use whatever we want to eat with. Whatever makes you happy and regular. Personally I would think it was pretentious if someone openly criticised someone for using the "wrong" implement in public. I have seen that happen. Or some odd behaviour like to only have soup spoons out for guests but normally using another type of spoon, hopefully not a demi tasse spoon (deliberately pretentious use of the name...) If you eat cake with a cake fork great, no sticky fingers for you. Going out to buy a set purely in the hope of impressing someone, then not using them when just family, seems pretentious.

I absolutely love demitasse spoons and am going to get a vintage set, or at least start a vintage collection, at some point when I’ve managed to save for it (I’ve a very long list of things I need to save for...🙄🙄). But I adore dinky tiny things, and I do actually need a set!

What I’d most love is a silver, gold plate and enamel set just like my grandmother’s. They were little works of art and as a child I loved to sit and admire the many beautiful patterns, motifs and colours. ❤️

Oh and I do agree with all the points you made above. There’s absolutely no need for anyone to ever be obnoxious about things like this.

(I do still get to admire the beautiful spoons when I visit my mum at home (Scandinavia), but that’s not often at all. Maybe this year at Christmas!

I have a friend who keeps going on about Pjs…… I kept thinking why is this woman constantly talking about Pjs….. she meant private jets 😂 (which he goes on and apparently will take me in one day)

Have you managed to achieve anything much yourself, @Cam22? Or do you just get your jollies by being strange and unpleasant online to women who have achieved, to make up for your own poor education and bitterness?

@HollyandIvyandAllThingsYule how lovely! Another family tradition carried on and you will think of your Grandmother and your heritage every time you look at them.

Brilliant thread.
Years ago I went to a swing/jive dance class. Us beginners were ushered into a side room to go over basic steps. As the instructor went to turn on the cd so we could put it into practice. A man pipes up:
"Amem. Yes. I am actually a professional singer in a swing band. Rather than play recorded music, would you all like me to sing live?"
Us beginners look on in stunned silence. "Oh erm yes please. How wonderful!" the instructor politely mumbles.
"This is actually new song I've been working on for a while. A one-two-three-four!...."
I cant remember any of the steps because I'm too busy pissing myself laughing

One of my mum's neighbours was having her kitchen renovated by a very upmarket company. When they turned up to deliver the kitchen in an unmarked white van, she told them to go away and come back with the official company van that had the name and logo emblazoned on it so that the whole street would know she could afford this company.

'Quite a middle class comp' 😂

Why is that funny? Do you think comprehensive schools simply don’t exist in middle class areas?

My sister is currently looking at moving house in order to get into the catchment area for our old school. It’s rated outstanding and, if you’d seen the price of the houses nearby, you wouldn’t be laughing at the idea of a middle class comprehensive.

@WildWombat

One of my mum's neighbours was having her kitchen renovated by a very upmarket company. When they turned up to deliver the kitchen in an unmarked white van, she told them to go away and come back with the official company van that had the name and logo emblazoned on it so that the whole street would know she could afford this company.

😂 😂

@mm40

My wife always insists on calling my car the Rolls and her car the Bentley rather than my car and her car, she is ok otherwise and quite nice to the staff.

Do you live in Ipswich and is the name Simon familiar to you?

@WildWombat

One of my mum's neighbours was having her kitchen renovated by a very upmarket company. When they turned up to deliver the kitchen in an unmarked white van, she told them to go away and come back with the official company van that had the name and logo emblazoned on it so that the whole street would know she could afford this company.

That's very Hyacinth Bucket! [first lines]

Hyacinth: [on the telephone] I require your furniture department, please. The quality section, not the plywood end.

Hyacinth: Good morning! Am I speaking to the manager? I shan't settle for anything less. Good. Now, my name is Bouquet, that's B-U-C-K-E-T.

Hyacinth: No, it is Bouquet. You may remember that I called in earlier in the week to choose a three piece suite.

Hyacinth: You do remember vividly. How very nice. Yes. That's right, I called in the week before too.

Hyacinth: Yes, and the week before that.

Hyacinth: Well, these things are too important to rush. Now, you remember that I finally opted for a very superior suite, which you assured me was an exact replica of one at Sandringham House.And you promised delivery today. I'm ringing to ascertain the precise time that you intend to deliver, and will it be in one of your vans with the royal warrant on?

Hyacinth: All your vans have the royal warrant; that's good. On both sides? Because if it's only on the one side I shall want you to park facing town.

Hyacinth: You have the royal warrant on both sides; that's very good.

@myfaceismyown we also have those little Apostle spoons! Inherited from my lovely mother in law. The dds wanted them as they had alway used them at her house.

@lioncitygirl does your friend have children at Milfield school? Apparently PJs also stands for pRivate jets rather than pyjamas there too. You also can’t book tennis lessons on Friday or Sunday afternoon because the heli pad is next to the tennis courts and fames are disrupted as the parents collect/drop off their offspring from weekends in london.