There is a writer whose blog I occasionally read who writes in the most pretentious style imaginable. I’m not sure if this person only expects PhD candidates to be able to decipher her writing, or if she just believes herself to be so self-important that this is how she really talks. The writing sounds like something out of a freaking Woody Allen movie. I can usually only make it through a few sentences of each blog post, regardless of how fascinating I find the subject, before I start to feel nauseous from the elitism inherent in the writing style.
My blog is titled Suburban Kitsch. I am currently a suburbanite. Kitsch means lowbrow, tacky, tawdry, or appealing to popular or undiscriminating taste. I try to avoid elitist-style pretentiousness in my writing. Sometimes I succeed in that effort at way too far a degree. For example, I actually have to try really hard to keep my bathroom humor in check, especially on my twitter account (tee hee).
The shirt below is an example of kitsch at its absolute finest. For some reason I own it. I think a distant relative may have given it to us unbeknownst to me.
Kitsch at its finest!
One day I was digging through my “sleep shirt” drawer and lo-and-behold, this treasure presented itself to me! I had no idea it existed in our house! I proudly put it on and ran around the house loudly singing “Freedom Isn’t Free” from the Team America: World Police soundtrack, and then I may have transitioned into Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (Angry American)” – i.e. the “boot in your ass” song.
Jared immediately pointed out my hypocrisy. “Your blog is called Suburban Kitsch. I thought you were supposed to be against elitism. You are embodying the very thing you are supposed to be against.”
Ouch. Buzzkill.
So then, what is elitism? What constitutes pretentiousness in writing or speech? Surely they are real things. I have observed personally those in the “educated classes” looking down upon those they deem to be inferior and ignorant… I can read plain indignation in the writing on their blogs. Even their writing seethes with judgment and an air of superiority. I observe it at parties. You would think we would have grown past the “cool kid” phenomenon now that we’re adults. But no, the judging of others has simply moved to the intellectual elite who feel they are more fashionable, hip, and educated than those yokel rednecks… regardless of political persuasion.
Personally, I always have to keep myself in check that I do not become like this. It is so easy for me to fall back on my education, my knowledge of news and culture, my one puny trip to Europe, or what I think are my enlightened views, and then use all this to therefore judge so many others. But those people I am judging know SO MUCH MORE than me about many realms of knowledge that I am completely ignorant about. My knowledge is not infallible, and I’m almost never the smartest person in the room. I’m no cooler than anyone else. In fact, I actually use the word “word!” as an exclamation of happiness, so that probably makes me the lamest person on the planet. Basically, I try to never let myself feel too self-important. This is VERY difficult.
I have an ongoing conversation with my husband about what particular words carry the most pretentious connotations when used in regular conversation. Jared feels that the word “fabulous” is extremely pretentious and should never be used by anyone unless they are actually on the TV show Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. He also thinks that the word “atrocious” is about as pretentious as you can get, unless it is referring to a literal atrocity. For my part, I believe that in everyday conversation (at least in mixed company with non-PhD candidates), one should never use words that would be more at home in an academic journal article… for example “onerous,” “obfuscation,” or “pejorative.” In my opinion, using words like those in everyday conversation is just showy and pretentious to the extreme (not that I haven’t ever done it).
How about you? What words do you think have pretentious connotations? Do you care at all about elitism? Do you ever feel like you’re being judged by “intellectual elites,” or are you one yourself? Do you think there was something wrong with my parading around in said shirt while singing a Toby Keith song? (and just in case you didn’t catch it before – I was being a huge smartass while doing so).
And P.S. Freedom costs a buck-o-five.
November 13, 2009 at 9:17 am
Good post! And I have so much to say. It must be Friday.
I happen to find the pretentious and elitist labels awfully messy (or, dare I say–atrocious). In all honesty, to suggest that the word atrocious should only be used to describe an actual atrocity seems fairly pretentious on its own right. To be against pretention almost approaches its own form of pretentiousness or elitism. Who are YOU to say that I’M pretentious?
I think the most important factor is the audience. For example, I talk about movies differently with different people. To talk about the auteur theory and the relative merits of Jean-Luc Godard’s oeuvre with my parents would be pretentious. But I certainly don’t think talking about those things or even the word “oeuvre” are necessarily pretentious on their own. To be honest, I don’t believe I’ve talked about Godard’s oeuvre with anyone to this point.
Since audience is a major factor, I tend to give blogs, books, etc. an exemption. You can freely walk away from any of those if their style does not appeal to you. I also think walking around in a kitschy t-shirt and singing Toby Keith songs is not only perfectly fine, it is almost a moral requirement. Perhaps TK and the designer of that t-shirt thought they were genuinely creating something wonderful, but that doesn’t mean that they are above criticism or parody. And criticism shouldn’t be conflated to mean pretentiousness or elitism. Sometimes a redneck is just a redneck. Besides, its not like you were parading around like that at the Bass Pro Shop or something.
I also believe that the pretentious label gets thrown haphazardly around by others because they are simply uncomfortable with a certain style of language. Or perhaps they are philistines who openly despise learning, culture, and the arts. Or they throw the label around in the “latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving” way of trying to disparage their opponents.
I don’t know. I kind of think pretension is often fine. Just know your audience. I’ve often saved potentially pretentious comments from a social gathering for the drive home where I’ll have a more favorable audience. What’s the point of marriage if a couple can’t be bitchy about other people on their drive home from a social gathering?
November 13, 2009 at 9:58 am
Haha. I’m judging you right now Dwight. I’m judging you. I definitely agree about the context and audience being very important. One quick point, then I’m off to work. I’ll try to say more later.
I think Jared’s annoyance with the word atrocious could have something to do with with a certain speaker that we know, and their extreme overuse of the word… and their inherent elitism and judgment of others that we observe. It’s difficult not to associate certain words with elitism and pretension when you hear them being spoken over and over by people you associate with those same concepts. That may not be the best reason for lumping a whole word into a certain class, but I know I do the same thing as well in other realms. One tries to compensate by being as objective and impartial as possible in every single area of one’s life, but we are human beings with prior experiences, emotions, and biases, after all (even when we try our best to control for them) so sometimes it’s almost unavoidable.
November 13, 2009 at 3:09 pm
I agree with you. I was being facetious about the word atrocious. I think in many ways it’s simply a matter of perspective. What you see as pretentious and what I see may be two entirely different things but that doesn’t make either of us right (or wrong).
I also just had a thought…which sent me back here to comment…is that we should make a distinction between that which is ostentatious and that which is condescending or patronizing. Again, the difference between the two may also be a matter of perspective. See, I just used the word “ostentatious” which I would hardly ever use in normal conversation…yet it seems here to be exactly the right word to convey my thought.
All that being said, I’m sure in a bunch of cases we could ALL agree when somebody is being pretentious or elitist in a way purposefully meant to be condescending or patronizing.
November 13, 2009 at 9:38 pm
I think the word “pretentious” is pretentious. Hahahaha…just kidding.
Hopefully, what I have to say here isn’t too redundant. To me, there’s a fine, fine line between being pretentious and simply being intelligent and having an expansive vocabulary. I don’t even know if I could tell whether something is “pretentious” or just “smart,” except but on a case-by-case basis, depending on who was saying it, the context of the conversation, etc. I definitely can’t say that some words are just inherently more pretentious than others…again, I think it depends on the context. It’s probably just something that’s in the eye of the beholder.
I don’t feel like someone should have to consciously dumb themselves down to talk to someone who may not be from the same place, have had the same schooling, whatever. I would be ridiculously offended if I ever thought someone was “dumbing down” for my benefit. I hear what you’re saying about the judgmental, self-superior types. They definitely exist…I’ve known a few of them. But I think one has to be careful not to go to far the other direction…anti-intellectualism pisses me off just as badly, perhaps even more so. I’ve also known people who instantly dismiss someone if they try to talk about something other than sports or hunting.
Sure, we shouldn’t mock people’s ignorance. But neither is ignorance something one should be stubbornly proud of. We all have room to grow and learn (and I think simply realizing that is enough to keep us humble). But I can’t respect someone who won’t admit that (be they “intellectual” or “redneck”).
Oh, and Dwight…I love the word “oeuvre.” It’s a shame there aren’t more chances to use it.
November 14, 2009 at 5:19 pm
I think it has to do with people’s intentions when communicating. Are they hoping to make others feel small and themselves more important? Or are they just communicating their thoughts with the vocabulary they have within their reach. I do think context is important but some people aren’t particularly socially aware and use the same language no matter who they talk to. Their intentions aren’t to humble anyone, but they only possess one vocabulary.
I can’t say that I really think about elitism or pretension much, but I could see how, depending upon a person’s social circle, it could be a greater concern.
I think I’m at a greater risk of being considered a hillbilly than I am an elitist though.