Things that are unintentional status symbols.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Walking to the grocery store because you simply cannot abide having to freeze some chicken.

Owning a Vitamix, a Sodastream, and a Nespresso.

Not wearing make-up.

I totally agree with this.

I don't wear make-up because I'm lazy.

Me too. Could some explain this one? I read the thread on French women and still don't get it.

I don't do my nails either.

I'm not writing this to be snarky, but if you've been around a lot of people with understated old money, you would know what this means. We have always vacationed in Chatham, Truro and Welfleet on the cape. Tons of people like this (unlike us, they own their houses and only use them 8 weeks a year) The dowdier they dress, the more money they have (at least up there). I almost lol thinking of lipstick or any make up really on any f them.

+1. Yup. This is a New England thing, though, I think. I'm from CT so I get this (though, sadly, I'm not one of the lucky ones). But yeah, we have friends with old family homes on the Vineyard and random little islands in Maine. They wear LL Bean fleeces all summer at said cottages (which are always extremely low-key, weathered, and rustic but at the same time perfectly tasteful and of obvious quality that has aged well). Old Volvos and Saabs and, back in the day, Jeep Wagoneers (remember those? LOVE). Very little jewelry or makeup, but they're always in shape so they can pull of the sporty look well. They ski, they sail, they know art, and they have interesting names for their grandparents. Point being, they don't have to broadcast their money with more high-end fleeces or white elephant summer homes. The low-key approach broadcasts their privilege and family background much more effectively to those who understand the code. I actually find it more refreshing than the flashiness around DC.

[Anonymous]

Stokke anything, esp $1200 strollers that let the baby be at your eye level

[Anonymous]

red-shirting
diapers at age 4

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
+1. Yup. This is a New England thing, though, I think. I'm from CT so I get this (though, sadly, I'm not one of the lucky ones). But yeah, we have friends with old family homes on the Vineyard and random little islands in Maine. They wear LL Bean fleeces all summer at said cottages (which are always extremely low-key, weathered, and rustic but at the same time perfectly tasteful and of obvious quality that has aged well). Old Volvos and Saabs and, back in the day, Jeep Wagoneers (remember those? LOVE). Very little jewelry or makeup, but they're always in shape so they can pull of the sporty look well. They ski, they sail, they know art, and they have interesting names for their grandparents. Point being, they don't have to broadcast their money with more high-end fleeces or white elephant summer homes. The low-key approach broadcasts their privilege and family background much more effectively to those who understand the code. I actually find it more refreshing than the flashiness around DC.

YES!!!!!!! Nailed it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stokke anything, esp $1200 strollers that let the baby be at your eye level

No. You're still not getting it.

[Anonymous]

Hip dysphasia or ACL surgery on your Lab or Golden

[Anonymous]

* dysplasia

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
+1. Yup. This is a New England thing, though, I think. I'm from CT so I get this (though, sadly, I'm not one of the lucky ones). But yeah, we have friends with old family homes on the Vineyard and random little islands in Maine. They wear LL Bean fleeces all summer at said cottages (which are always extremely low-key, weathered, and rustic but at the same time perfectly tasteful and of obvious quality that has aged well). Old Volvos and Saabs and, back in the day, Jeep Wagoneers (remember those? LOVE). Very little jewelry or makeup, but they're always in shape so they can pull of the sporty look well. They ski, they sail, they know art, and they have interesting names for their grandparents. Point being, they don't have to broadcast their money with more high-end fleeces or white elephant summer homes. The low-key approach broadcasts their privilege and family background much more effectively to those who understand the code. I actually find it more refreshing than the flashiness around DC.

YES!!!!!!! Nailed it.

+1 another Northeasterner here who completely gets what you are saying

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are people jumping all over the "unintentional." Every purchase in life is intentional -- you had the free will to buy it or not. I'm guessing the OP wanted to just talk about status symbols -- someone buys a North Face bc they want a fleece and look turns out they're wearing what someone else considers a status symbol.

No one accidentally buys a NorthFace without caring, on some level, that it has a visible NorthFace logo. Don't be dense. If NorthFace is not an intentional, purposeful statement of status, I don't know what is.

Actually the opposite is true now for NorthFace. You can get a cheap NorthFace at Dicks. But at a point in time, you could not get NorthFace unless you went on a vacation out North.

It's like wearing a Princeton tshirt. It is the school you went to, yes you intentionally went to Princeton, you intentionally wear the shirt, but who doesn't where a shirt or tshirt from their school every now and then. It's not intentionally a status symbol, it is a status symbol.

NF is not even popular any more.

[Anonymous]

Prius
smaller house/short commute
cloth diapers/breast feeding to over one year
beach vacation on Outer Banks
Children attending UVA/W&M or UMCP -In State
Attending certain Congregations
Summer pool memberships in NOVA with children on summer swim team and in year round swim programs
using the library for most of your children books under age 8
half day preschool
AAP
A child that goes to John's Hopkins for CTY

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
+1. Yup. This is a New England thing, though, I think. I'm from CT so I get this (though, sadly, I'm not one of the lucky ones). But yeah, we have friends with old family homes on the Vineyard and random little islands in Maine. They wear LL Bean fleeces all summer at said cottages (which are always extremely low-key, weathered, and rustic but at the same time perfectly tasteful and of obvious quality that has aged well). Old Volvos and Saabs and, back in the day, Jeep Wagoneers (remember those? LOVE). Very little jewelry or makeup, but they're always in shape so they can pull of the sporty look well. They ski, they sail, they know art, and they have interesting names for their grandparents. Point being, they don't have to broadcast their money with more high-end fleeces or white elephant summer homes. The low-key approach broadcasts their privilege and family background much more effectively to those who understand the code. I actually find it more refreshing than the flashiness around DC.

YES!!!!!!! Nailed it.

+1 (pp here who was the cape cod vacationer). Totally agree.

[Anonymous]

To technology folks: certain email addresses and employee numbers (he was employer #3 at Facebook).

[Anonymous]

Soft, slow, well articulated speech.

[Anonymous]

Never thanking the waitstaff at a restaurant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Never thanking the waitstaff at a restaurant.

I only see this with the nouveau riche who are trying to prove that they've made it and are superior to little folk. Well-bred people are much more civil and polite.