Do people pretend not to know who people are in order to seem intelligent?

[coulditbeme2323]

Do people pretend not to know who people are in order to seem intelligent?

This question is prompted from reading comments online re The Met Gala?

Now let me prefix this by saying I have no interest in reality tv, Showbiz mags, etc - but surely there are some people who you know who they are because everybody does!

There were people saying "who" on a photo of Kim Kardashian. I have never seen an episode of the show, have no interest in her, but of course I know who she is - because how can you not?

Another British example is Jordan/Kate Price. No interest in her, but she has literally been headline news in The UK for 20 years. If you live in The UK - surely its impossible to not at least know who she is?

@CynicalSunni - to be honest I could name more Harry Styles songs than Taylor Swift. For her I've got Shake It Off and Blank Space. For him I've got As It Was, Watermelon Sugar, Music For A Sushi Restaurant and Canyon Moon.

I'm so down wiv da kids.

I have never watched much TV, even as a child/young person. In my 40s now. If I say I don't know who someone is, it is because I don't know who someone is. I can sometimes feel a bit stupid if I DO know who they are, then someone starts talking about them and I can't follow because I know nothing about them other than who they are. E.G I thinkI would know who Kim Kardashian IS, if I saw a photo of her but beyond that I have only ever seen one video about her on youtube and can't remember anything about it. I couldn't tell you what she does, who she is, anything else about her life at all.

I know a bit more about Katie Price. Just because of my age I think. She was always in magazines and newspapers etc.

I could not pick Kendall Jenner out of a line-up and I am not sure I have heard of him/her until I read this thread. Name looks vaguely familiar?

That will be me then ha no clue and don’t care either not everyone knows celebs unless they see or read about them.

There's a difference between not being able to recognise eg Taylor Swift or name any of her songs and pretending you have never heard of her.
I would not recognise most of the people mentioned on this thread and I certainly could not name a Taylor Swift song, but to say I had never heard of her would be basically admitting I never watched the news or read a newspaper/news website.

Honestly I used to think this then the older I got the more out of touch I became with upcoming celebrities in terms of music and TV shows, especially famous Tiktokers. I just don't know who they are. The other reason I think is when I was growing up music videos were huge, so we knew what singers looked like. Now I might hear an artist on the radio but I have no idea what they look like. I know famous people from my generation and older, just not younger celebrities.

but I still know the main ones like Gemma Collins, Pete Wicks, Jamie Laing.

I've never heard of any of them.

I know who Katie Price is, and I'd probably recognise her now, but only because she's involved with horses, which is one of my interests, and she was around when I was younger and the media you consumed wasn't tailored to your tastes like it is now, newspapers in break rooms and catching the news as you waited for something else to come on the TV.

Now I can go straight to what I want to watch and my SM feed is a reflection of what I watch regularly and what I listen to. I was into football in the 90's and reckon I could probably still name the high profile players from that time, and some of the less high profile ones too, and I know Kim Kardashian exists and she's famous but I'm not sure I'd recognise her, and I think she's something related to fashion, but as it's not an interest of mine my knowledge doesn't go beyond that.
I don't think that makes me anything other than interested in what I'm interested in, if other people then assign motives to that, well I think that's more an issue for them, not me.

I’ve obviously heard of Kim Kardashian, but if you showed me a photo of her, I genuinely wouldn’t know it was her. Katie Price I would recognise though. It’s not about trying to seem more intelligent, though, I just honestly have zero interest in celebrity culture.
I watch Eastenders, but I couldn’t tell you the names of any of the actors. Same with most films, I’ve heard of the names of actors, but I couldn’t tie the name with the person. I’ve heard of Ryan Gosling, for example, but I had no idea he was the guy I watched in Project Hail Mary, and if he knocked on my door tomorrow, I’d still have no idea who he was.

If I read an article about a celebrity on the front of a mag in Sainsburys, I would have clean forgotten who they were by the time I got home because I am genuinely not interested in celeb culture. It doesn’t mean I haven’t ever seen or heard of them, it’s just not information I retain, so if I then saw something else about them a few weeks later, there is every chance I wouldn’t know who they were. I would never comment “who” on a post though, that’s just stupid.
If I read a front page about the horse power and top speed of a new V16 Aston Martin that had just been launched though, I would absolutely retain that information and be able to answer a question on it weeks later as that is something that interests me, but to other people that’s probably dull and extremely boring. We’re all different.

I've heard of them but I don't tend to recognise Kim Kardashian or Katie Price unless a picture is labled or there's some other clue. I have a vague idea of what they look like but it's an overdone look that's distinctive but not at all unique and I get lots of the women who style themselves like that confused. I also don't give a shit about any of them and find them totally unimportant (along with the vast majority of celebs who are famous for being in the entertainment industry) so don't pay much attention when I do see them.

So looking at photos of the Met Gala (which I only do by accident, because it's also not something I consider at all important) I might well not recognise them. I don't think it makes me more intelligent, but I do think my lack of interest in celeb culture makes my life better.

I know who Katie Price is cause I was a teen in the 1990s and that’s the sort of thing teens find interesting. As an adult with a job, kids, hobbies, friends and sports I have zero time or interest in tv, instagram etc. I mumsnet when on a bus or waiting for a takeaway etc.

Coronation street, even in the 1990s, was not current affairs.

People definitely wear it as some kind of badge of honour. See also: ‘I don’t watch television’ - never said in the same way as say, ‘I don’t watch Wimbledon’ - always said with a self congratulatory sneer. In my industry it’s helpful to have a basic knowledge of popular culture - to the level you’d read about in decent newspapers - nothing more, but the amount of people who claim not to know very famous people just to sound intelligent is embarrassing and highlights why they actually aren’t very good at their job! (Connecting with different cultures/demographics).

What I really don't get though is why they don't just Google the name. So not only do they want to pretend they want everyone to know as well. It's like don't use a search engine for anything else they have questions about....

There is a big difference between having heard of someone and being able to recognise a picture of someone. I'm not particularly interested in people like Kim K, Im not particularly good at recognising faces generally and I don't think she has any stand out features to help identify her, so if you showed me a picture of her I wouldn't have a clue.

Have you heard of Mcvities? The biscuit company?

I recognise both names, although I know next to nothing about Kim K. But there are plenty of other people in the news about the Met Gala that I've never heard of, some of them maybe more famous than Kim for all I know. They just aren't on my radar.

I’d know Katie Price by sight and have heard of the Kardashians but couldn’t tell you which was which. There are lots of current names that I couldn’t put faces to. But I am also not reading articles about the Met gala and commenting “who??” Because I’m not interested enough to bother reading about it in the first place.

The genuinely ignorant aren’t even asking the question, they’re too busy working their way through Ulysses and Finnegans Wake. That’s what I do if Take a Break has sold out.

Some of it is snobbishness. I'm not sure it's about seeming intelligent, more about seeming above things they've deemed to be low class.

Other times, outside of social media (I agree those who don't know are unlikely to be commenting) it's can be genuine, particularly if it's just from pictures.

I tend to be the opposite in person - agreeing that I know people / seen shows / been place I haven't out of...not quite fear, more like an unease in how I appear when I'm around people who enjoy and really pursue traveling and/or are really into their media. I'm neither, but a lot of my coworkers are one or both of these so I view it as part of coworker friendliness so they can enjoy talking about the things they like (I've found if I agree to 1-2, but not beyond that, they get excited to tell me about it, which I enjoy but if I no idea from the start, it gets dropped and then no one is happy).

Unless you're working in an industry where you're going to come across a Kardashian, not sure it's helpful at all to know about them for anything.

I have to connect with people of different cultures and demographics in my role. I have never been hampered by not knowing much about that kind of thing. It does, in fact, open up a different conversation around what I do have interest in, and the same for them.

Seem like terrible examples. I know who both are because I am old enough.

But I can genuinely say I haven’t hear kim kardashian mentioned in a very, very long time. Enough that plenty probably into their 20s could easily have had almost no interaction with the name and zero of what they have ever done.

Similar for Katie Price.

Yup, I have heard of Kim K but would not recognise her. I'm not sure id recognise Katie P either as she changes her appearance but I do know who they are.

Footballers though...no clue

It’s not to appear intelligent , it’s to say they don’t think reality people should be given the photo time they are , or that they should be irrelevant

I think I could pick out Katie Price but def not Kim Kardashian. I’m aware there’s a family show about them. And some link to the black chap who parades around a near naked wife.
I am quite intelligent but don’t think ignorance of any kind makes me appear more so.

I’ve vaguely heard of the Kardashians. I don’t know what they do, how many there are and I certainly wouldn’t recognise any of them. I just have zero interest.