I've been just called pretentious for doing a simple ass thing like reading in a cafe

For a long time I thought that people throw that word in attempt to control other folks for doing something they CAN'T/WON'T do,,,but lately I even hear young teenage kids "use" it. WTF?

In all seriousness though, I never gave it much of a thought,,,,to me pretentios is just a branch of "PHONY",,,and to be honest, it threw me off when I got called "pretentious" because I've never looked @ myself as a "phony" person,,,,hell, nobody know me do.

SO, what do you guys consider a pretentious behavior?
[Edited 12/20/08 13:41pm]

Changing your name to an unpronounceable symbol and asking "what's my name?" to an audience between songs they've never heard before.

Imago said:

That shit is just fuckin' DUMB

what's pretentious?

a person dressed in a gucci shirt, D&G trousers, LV built and Prada shoes all at the same time

its more an ugly sense of fashion than pretentious though
[Edited 12/20/08 14:19pm]

Self proclamations are the epitome of pretentious.

Imago said:

Harlepolis said:

it would only have been pretentious if you'd held the book up in a way so that everyone in the cafe can see it says Sartre on the front

ZombieKitten said:

Imago said:

I think that's the kind of thing that's between a person and their God. I also think people who go around calling others pretentious are the ones who are actually pretentious. In other words, they wouldn't have recognized it in you unless they first saw it in themselves - like speaks to like.

Harlepolis said:

wrapping walmart sweaters in macy's gift boxes.

Steadwood said:

I have a photo of my husband with a capuccino in one hand and that book in the other

notaprintztype said:

my sister made me sew esprit labels to things she got at safeway

eaglebear4839 said:

So I'm pretentious after all

ZombieKitten said:

Thing is...

Why would everybody in the cafe give a shit to begin with, thats what I wanna know?

Hell, I wouldn't.
[Edited 12/20/08 21:27pm]

Harlepolis, there must be more to this! What stranger would be so bold as to do that? Is this something a friend said? ...Or were you being aloof to people?

Lammastide said:

It was my sister actually.

I was supposed to meet her in the cafe and I don't like waiting on folks,,,thats why I always keep a small paperback book in my purse.

JustErin said:

Ohhh, that's a good one!

If you must proclaim a quality, a trait, or a status to others, it might mean you, in fact, don't engender the trait as you think.
[Edited 12/20/08 21:54pm]

Harlepolis said:

Ahh... So she walked in on you reading the book and called you pretentious. Seems out of place.

Lammastide said:

What?

Her accusation,,,,or my public reading?

Harlepolis said:

Her accusation.

Although, maybe the reading was, too. After all, if you really were good at being pretentious, you'd have had someone else read to you as you sipped your designer coffee -- pinky out, of course.
[Edited 12/20/08 22:17pm]

Lammastide said:

I never read @ home. Too many distractions, if it ain't the kids, its the lil' stuff that need fixin' or re-positioning,,,,or the damn phone.

Its a pattern I have since high school,,,,I don't remember ever studying indoors during my highschool days, unless of course I was sick.

It comforts me, if it makes any sense. Which I'm sure it doesn't

Reading in general is. That eye, eye thinking to themself.
Book, book. I mean where they at. They in another world.

Harlepolis said:

Believe me, I don't knock anyone's reading habits. When I read, I must have UTTER QUIET or some masking white noise. (I go to iserenity.com and block out the world with headphones.) And I cannot read/concentrate with another human in, say, a 10-foot radius of me.






Geez, that sounds pretentious.
[Edited 12/20/08 22:14pm]

Lammastide said:

That sounds like ALOT of work

I'm a New Yorker, so the thought of having an outdoor solitary time is almost impossible

Glad to know I ain't the only one with reading-eccentricities

Harlepolis said:

that is what differentiates you from the pretentious

Harlepolis said:

Oh, it gets bad, girl. For a while last year, I couldn't concentrate at the library unless I lit a small candle I always kept in my bag.

ZombieKitten said:

I think it's pretentious when someone stops liking a band or a singer just because they got famous. I had a few moments like that in high school but I know quite a few people who are out of high school that still have this behavior. Get over yourself!

Oh, and people who don't watch tv and make it a point to talk about how stupid others are for doing it. Meanwhile they spend hours upon hours playing video games and fucking around on the internet. And not only that, these are the people that always want to add their two cents about the events that are happening on the Hills or some other tv show. Hello, you don't watch tv! Remember? You're too good for it so how could you possibly know what's going on with Heidi & Spencer?

And back in the day when I used to hang out at Perkins late at night (which probably was a bit pretentious), the Barnes & Noble workers used to come over after work. They would always have the booth next to us and we'd get to hear all their "I'm smarter than everyone" conversations. I was talking to my friends and I must have used a word incorrectly. I heard one of the Barnes & Noble girls, whose back was to my back, correct me while I was still talking to MY friends. I stopped and said loudly to my friends "Oh, no she did NOT just corrrect my grammar." The bitch didn't have anything to say after that.

When I went to the Zaha Hadid Chanel Mobile Art exhibition in Central Park a couple months ago, the whole experience was the epitome of pretention. The admission was timed tickets, the Chanel clad "guards" were so uptight about keeping people on schedule. Once inside we were required to check coats and handbags. Separating a woman from her handbag is pretty pretenious...I mean we couldn't even carry a pocketbook. Everyone was required to take the audio guide, but we couldn't turn it on ourselves, a Chanel clad girl came over and put it on our ears, then a second Chanel-clad girl came over and asked us what language we wanted to listen in and turned it on for us. We then had to follow the instructions on the audio tour--meaning we weren't even supposed to stand up an enter the first gallery until the voice told us.

I have been to A LOT of museums and it was by far the most pretentious, self-aggrandizing exhibition I've ever been to, and the art wasn't that great either. When I told them as much, they shrugged and said, "But it's Chanel."