Are you a snob?

On the whole I'd say deff not a snob.

But to be honest i think everyone is snobby at some point and in some way.

For example. There is certain areas in the town i live where i would NEVER want to stay and i tend to keep away from these areas.

I have no reason to look down on anyone as I have nothing special but I think human nature means that even if we dont want to admit it we are all snobs at times.

I have described myself as an academic elitist, which might be construed as 'snobby', I suppose. I was accused of being a 'cheese snob' at Christmas!

I have my snobby moments.

I'm sure I am sometimes, but I don't mean to be; I think everyone is bit.

I know I can turn into a massive snob if I feel that someone I think is less intelligent/attractive than me is looking down on me - but I think thats fair enough ?

What really annoys me are inverse snobs. I briefly dated someone (years ago) who lived in a huge house in a posh area, his parents were both in senior level jobs and they had 2 big brand new cars, but he still insisted that he was 'working class' and tried to put on this cringey 'street' accent all the time. I was at college with his younger sister, who spoke like Helen Baxendale and was always off at ballet lessons or on ski trips!!

I am not a snob, I'd say I'm more of the opposite. I lack confidence really, and would always think others were better than me and doubt myself.

Sorry Footlong, have you actually said that aloud. As in, to other people?

By that definition, and by my own, im not a snob, those that know me will confirm!

I would say im pretend posh tho ?

My Sister calls me a snob, but she clearly hasn't come across actual snobs before.

I think she sees me as a snob for certain things because I know if there's something better (For example, in quality) that I could have - This could be clothes, food, homestuff, etc - Then I would prefer it, whereas she would make do with something.

I don't look down on people for their lesser jobs, intelligence, wealth than me. Not to the point that I would think differently of them to anyone else. I generally look down on people who are utter c-bombs.

I think there's a difference between being a snob and being a bit of a twunt. I'd class the definition of 'snob' in the OP as the latter.

Preferring certain things for yourself over others isn't snobby; it's just personal preference. The act of looking down on anyone for any element of their lifestyle isn't really snobby; it's just being a twunt.

I have become a bit of a pram snob though - and I blame parenting forums for this! On another discussion board a couple of years ago, someone started a "pram snobbery" thread about the different brands of pushchairs you can buy and what assumptions you make about a family based on what they cart their baby around in. It emerged, over the course of 700-odd posts, that iCandy, Bugaboo etc are the elite prams and apparently Graco make "pasty prams", favoured by mothers who use the plastic tray at the front to hold their Gregg's sausage rolls and baby bottles filled with Pepsi. I'd never, ever come across that attitude before that thread, but now every time I see a Graco pram, I snicker inwardly and remember that thread. I had to admit to myself when pram shopping this time that it had stuck in my mind so much that I now couldn't bring myself to buy a Graco. How daft!

I don't think I'm a snob by the definition given in the OP.

I don't look down on people for anything relating to their social status/wealth etc. If someone behaves like an idiot, I won't want much to do with them but that's a decision made on an individual basis. I wouldn't judge a whole section of society in one go!

Equally don't see what is wrong with trying to better yourself or aspire to nice things. So if that's snobbery, I'm guilty!

Some of the examples being given by people above are not things I would consider snobbery, I think that's being discerning.

I think I have a few moments when I think "I wouldn't do that" or cringe inwardly, but then I feel really bad for thinking that way, so don't think that's really snobbery. For example, one of my colleagues has a tendency to shout things up the corridor in front of patients, which I think is a bit unprofessional. I like her though, and don't treat her any differently

I worry what people think of me, and worry that people think I'm posh or snobby. OH teases me for being posh, just because I say things differently to him and don't like swearing. But I certainly don't look down on anyone who swears, and I'm not posh! ?

I'm not snobby in the least little bit, I suspect people look down on me for all the reasons highlighted above.

My OH can be really snobby!!

I think everyone can have snobby moments, even if they are generally not a snob. We all have things we think are socially 'inferior', whether we admit it or not.

I am not a snob as a whole, but I have little moments where I catch myself passing judgement on others because of their clothes/attitude/accent/behaviour etc.

Not apropos of nothing. I don't introduce myself "Hi, I'm E, vegetarian. atheist, academic elitist" It's more a label that has been stuck on me during discussions of the current university education system.

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Are you more of a brainbox than your husband?

I'm not sure about the actual definition of snob but there are people I respect and there are people I suppose I look down on.

I was brought up in a deprived area by a single mother, she worked two jobs to make ends meet, we had very little in material things but we always had a very close relationship with our extended family, we never lived on benefits and she encouraged me to be the first person in my family to go to university.

I have a great respect for people who value education and for those who contribute to the sum total of human knowledge and for people who work hard and care for those they love. I have no respect for anybody who values things/wealth/status symbols over people. I have no respect for people who expect things to be handed to them on a plate and who think society owes them something. I don't think it does but if that makes me a snob so be it.

Hmm, on paper, we're equivalent. But he has claimed, and I would agree, that he became a scientist because he was technically very good at it - it was an obvious career path for him. I became a scientist because I wanted to be a scientist of the thinky variety. This would have me as the "more academic" of us. But is he more of a brainbox? I don't know, I wouldn't like to test it.*

*But I think not

He he, it probably doesn't help your cause when you tell them that you don't think they are clever enough to continue the discussion

I'm definitely not a snob, I don't treat people differently and I hate it when people look down on me because I'm not as smart/good looking/wealthy as them.

We're all people.

Some have worked hard to get to the top, others were handed it on a plate, some are quite content being average.

I'm the latter. I've got a great family, friends, enough money to live on and a roof over my head. That's all I need.

I have a Physics A-level. I sat S-level papers in Particle Physics and in Astrophysics. I have also recently read "How To Teach Quantum Physics To Your Dog" ?

So Footlong/Enterflora and other brainy (especially sciencey types) would you consider yourselves to be educational snobs? Ie look down on or only wish to associate with those you consider your intellectual equals? And how do you rate the intellectual abilities of artists/poets/musicians in relation to your own academic abilities?

Discuss! ?

My dog is already an expert on quantum physics, thanks. And, frankly, I find the insinuation that most dogs wouldn't already be familiar with a subject as basic as that a little snobbish.

*flounce*

Well MY dog is Professor of Quantum Physics at a very well known University.

I like talking science and that's often most immediately productive with other science bores. I also, by dint of my job, associate more with science people but that's just an occupational hazard. There's no way I consider myself intellectually superior to non-science people, in a subject by subject fashion*. How can you measure whether an artist's painting (and the philosophy behind it) is more valuable or intellectually advanced than a scientist's experiment (and the application of it)?

I couldn't say I never feel intellectually superior though. I'd find it hard to consider a Bible-thumping Creationist intellectually equivalent to me (or my dog) on the subject of biology**.

*Well, maybe to geographers. But that's just Colouring In, after all.

**Of course, their intellect regarding the works of Shakespeare may see me in crumbling heap on the floor.

I think it would be pretty judgemental for someone to place themselves on a higher plain simply because they excel in a particular field. To the best of my knowledge there are eight independent intelligences and just because an individual may have an aptitude for one or more, would not necessarily make them more intelligent IMO .

I suppose though, that some "intellectual areas" appear to have more use than others. For example, if I dioscover a cure for cancer, it might well be acknoweldged that I am some sort of very clever person and I receive the Nobel Prize and lots of other plaudits. An obvious example.

However, if I write a book or paint a picture that makes people think or fills them with joy, it is far less obvious than the above example. although it might still change their life.

Do we, as a species, value one sort of ability over another and does that matter?

PS I LOVE colouring in!

Well, I don't consider any intellectual pursuit as useless. Writing a great book (for which you can, of course receive a similarly creditable Nobel prize) is as valuable to humanity as a cure for cancer. Nobody would value anything I do at £35m, while Picasso (or rather, his family) could make that money this whilst sitting on the loo.

In fact, I might consider someone who didn't see the value of the Arts as intellectually stilted...Am I about to wrap myself up in a self-inflicted paradox? I am confused now.

IMO, we are not machines. A cure for cancer is not everything to this life*!

*Obviously, I'd still like to find one...

Have just had another thought. I don't consider the word "intellect" to apply to "knowledge". I consider myself knowledgeable about some things but I wouldn't say I was particularly intellectual. I consider Richard Dawkins "intellectual", not because he knows lots about evolution, but because he sees how what he knows can be applied elsewhere, how it links through to society and culture, how we can use knowledge of evolution. Does that make sense?

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You love a good pie chart, you lot ?

This is true, especially my lot, as I'm a human geographer (so not a scientist, rather a social scientist). Lots of colourful pie charts when you're a human geographer.

Physical geographers (the science ones) aren't so much into pie charts but they do love a good map!

I'm in the map camp. I nearly added "A world atlas" to this list of influential books (with no sense of irony - I genuinley love a good atlas - and have just today ordered myself a new copy of the Times Atlas of the British Isles (reduced form £90 to £7.99!)) but I thought I might get flamed!

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Me too. I have a couple of atlases, raggedy from use (or just from gazing). I also used some of our wedding money to buy a gorgeous globe...to add to the three we already have...