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Original poster

use of the word zeitgeist is so not poncey

25 replies

zoop · 30/12/2008 22:25

it is an everyday term, isn't it? Not like schadenfreude or svengali....

back me up here ladies, please

OP posts:
Hassled · 30/12/2008 22:27

I'd say it's precisely halfway between everyday and poncey

ScottishMummy · 30/12/2008 22:30

au contraire schadenfreude or svengali are very serviceable words(as is zeitgeist)

MillyR · 30/12/2008 22:33

I think schadenfreude is more every day than zeitgeist. It is not the word itself; it is more that any conversation in which you needed to say zeitgeist has to be a suspect conversation.

apostrophe · 30/12/2008 22:36

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apostrophe · 30/12/2008 22:36

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apostrophe · 30/12/2008 22:36

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MillyR · 30/12/2008 22:40

LOL at flirted with lidl.

I think they need a proper label of their own; zeitgeist will do. Highstreet downsizers, or something similar.

noonki · 30/12/2008 22:40

You poncey git,......

OK,OK in reality it may be poncey but I really have no idea what it means

mind I shop at asda so doubt it crops up much!

Hassled · 30/12/2008 22:40

Well, if they used to shop at Waitrose that changes everything . I take it we're referring to the chattering classes? If so, not poncey at all.

MillyR · 30/12/2008 22:41

Sorry; that should have read zeitgeist will not do.

apostrophe · 30/12/2008 22:44

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ScottishMummy · 30/12/2008 22:58

is this about serviceable conversational words or braying abut chaterrati and who shops where

MillyR · 30/12/2008 23:01

It is certainly not a serviceable conversational word. It is too old fashioned; it is very 90's.

apostrophe · 30/12/2008 23:02

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Quattrocento · 30/12/2008 23:04

I've used it in conversation quite regularly I think. Mind you I have also used the words schadenfreude and svengali ...

How is zeitgeist less poncey than schadenfreude?

What about apostasy? This fine word came up yesterday on MN and I don't believe I'd ever said it out loud.

Myrrhcy · 30/12/2008 23:09

Gemutlichkeit is my new poncey word.

I saw it Mn on recently and also Stephen Fry said it the other day.

MillyR · 30/12/2008 23:12

Only my personal opinion, but schadenfreude is something that an individual can experience, so referring to it is quite personal. To refer to zeitgeist involves making judgements about wider society; generalising about wider society is usually a more suspect topic of conversation.

I can't believe i just wrote that. It is definitely suspect.

KerryMumbles · 30/12/2008 23:16

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MillyR · 30/12/2008 23:28

Is this bar tale, by any chance, set in the 90's?

ScottishMummy · 30/12/2008 23:30

sounds like Tales of the city...

Quattrocento · 30/12/2008 23:31

Sounds fun, kerry

KerryMumbles · 30/12/2008 23:32

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zenandtheartofbaking · 30/12/2008 23:32

Also sounds like Sheryl Crow.

zenandtheartofbaking · 30/12/2008 23:39

Maybe Lidl should rename itself "zeitgeist"?

apostrophe · 31/12/2008 09:33

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