Isn’t the word “tacky” just a classist slur?

[Anonymous]

Is classy a classist slur? What about classic?

How about educated? Or well-educated?

What about well-mannered? Well-behaved?

Well-spoken?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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It is. Sometimes I feel it's used appropriately, and sometimes, as is the case for the "discussing finances is tacky" thread, very foolish and self-destructive.

In that case I think it’s just a synonym for “rude.” And you can debate whether or not it’s rude. But I don’t see the point of using a word that’s so inherently classist. In contrast, in the Beauty & Fashion board, it’s just straightforwardly an attack on not looking like you come from the right class, which is even worse.

People do have the choice to dress in a classy way like Michelle Obama and Jackie Kennedy, or they can try to emulate the Kardashians. If the latter, "tacky" fits.

What I understood you to have said is, “it’s okay for me to be classist and use classist terminology when I am passing judgment on someone for looking, in my estimation, to be of low class.” Did I miss something?

PP here. We are allowed to form opinions and express them about others who choose to be in the public eye, correct? Or are we required to use the descriptive terms of which you approve?

First, your PP wasn’t actually about “the public eye.” It was about people who “emulate” the Kardashians, not the actual Kardashians.

Second, I was young, people used the r word and “gay” to describe people’s dress and behavior. Now we don’t because those uses/words are understood as inappropriate. Both “tacky” and “trashy” should go the way of the r word.

You are welcome to think what you want. I'll also think that if someone goes to the beach dressed like Kim Kardashian in her hot pink suit from the rear view with basically a string, many of us will think it's a tacky way to dress.

Yes and the world is still full of racists, homophobes, classists, ableists, etc. I don’t disagree that you will continue to be a classist no matter how society moves.

You are very adept at moving the goalposts if you think that racists and homophobes are the same as having an opinion about tacky clothes. Soldier on, my friend!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It can be.

But absurd $10MM McMansions with fake towers in Mclean are also tacky. Those light up emblems on Mercedes are super tacky. Posting on DCUM about how much better you are than everyone else because you vacation abroad instead of OBX is incredibly tacky too.

There's no shortage of tacky behavior in any social or economic class.

Correct. Tacky does not mean poor. Lots of rich people are tacky. Same with low class. You can definitely be rich and low class. Just look at the Trumps and the Kardashians, to name a couple.

[Anonymous]

There’s a saying that “trashy people have trashy ways.”

I’ve always believed trashy behavior transcends race, ethnicity, socioeconomics, etc.

And I hope we haven’t devolved to a place where trashy behavior somehow becomes a cultural norm or something we must embrace lest we be labeled classist.

Imho: we would benefit from classy behavior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is classy a classist slur? What about classic?

How about educated? Or well-educated?

What about well-mannered? Well-behaved?

Well-spoken?

Your post really needs to be deleted.

Oppression of any type is nothing to joke about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There’s a saying that “trashy people have trashy ways.”

I’ve always believed trashy behavior transcends race, ethnicity, socioeconomics, etc.

And I hope we haven’t devolved to a place where trashy behavior somehow becomes a cultural norm or something we must embrace lest we be labeled classist.

Imho: we would benefit from classy behavior.

+1 Thank you. Some of the classiest people I know have very little money but demonstrate class and kindness in almost all they do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes this term is classist and really needs to be cancelled and go away.

It is discriminatory.

In the words of the great Inigo Montoya:

“I do not think that word means what you think it means.”

Like a pp said: the Kardashians dress tacky while the Kennedys dress classy.

The Kardashians are wealthier than the Kennedys. The Kardashians wear far more expensive clothing. But their fashion choices are garish, attention-seeking, and typically inappropriate for the occasion. That’s tacky. It’s not a socioeconomic measure; it’s a tangible vibe.

The pp posting common usage of the word in the 1800s is being silly. I mean, some means something entirely different in 2023 than it did in 1823 or even 2003.

Except that’s not what PP said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Very rich, high class people can be "tacky"

No, very rich people can be tacky. In many ways, they're best equipped to be tacky, because tacky means betraying one's lower-income roots by visibly striving to show off. That's not "high class" as most people would describe it.

As someone pointed out, criticizing people for tackiness always carries an element of classist gatekeeping: you're pointing out who isn't behaving according to the rules of old money and its reverse snobbery. And reverse snobbery is still snobbery.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve seen “tacky” being thrown around a lot more often on this board. Sometimes to describe rude behavior, but also just to describe preferences/tastes associated with people who didn’t grow up in certain exclusive communities from certain preferred regions of the US.

Isn’t this just classist nastiness that we should do away with? Aren’t we as a society over praising people for being born in the right place and judging people too dumb to be born in a rich eastern seaboard town?

I do not think you have the right hold on Tacky -- tacky does not depend on where you were born or grew up.

[Anonymous]

Let's not kill manners yet. Society is barely hanging on by a thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It can be.

But absurd $10MM McMansions with fake towers in Mclean are also tacky. Those light up emblems on Mercedes are super tacky. Posting on DCUM about how much better you are than everyone else because you vacation abroad instead of OBX is incredibly tacky too.

There's no shortage of tacky behavior in any social or economic class.

Correct. Tacky does not mean poor. Lots of rich people are tacky. Same with low class. You can definitely be rich and low class. Just look at the Trumps and the Kardashians, to name a couple.

Yes it’s true, rich people can also be the target of classist slurs. See all the posts around DCUM attacking people for their class background despite the fact they are now high income.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let's not kill manners yet. Society is barely hanging on by a thread.

It’s rude to call people tacky and trashy, so this is hardly an attack on manners.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve seen “tacky” being thrown around a lot more often on this board. Sometimes to describe rude behavior, but also just to describe preferences/tastes associated with people who didn’t grow up in certain exclusive communities from certain preferred regions of the US.

Isn’t this just classist nastiness that we should do away with? Aren’t we as a society over praising people for being born in the right place and judging people too dumb to be born in a rich eastern seaboard town?

I do not think you have the right hold on Tacky -- tacky does not depend on where you were born or grew up.

I don’t think you have a grip on the point I’m making. I’ve known plenty of class travelers who have sufficiently conformed their behavior to the “old money” aesthetic sufficiently to avoid being called tacky. But as for those who fall short, or even just don’t want to, this is an ugly word.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is classy a classist slur? What about classic?

How about educated? Or well-educated?

What about well-mannered? Well-behaved?

Well-spoken?

Your post really needs to be deleted.

Oppression of any type is nothing to joke about.

I think you are kidding.

Just in case you aren’t, I’d like to point out that complimenting a person or using a positive adjective most certainly cannot be construed as oppression or discrimination.

Words have meaning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve seen “tacky” being thrown around a lot more often on this board. Sometimes to describe rude behavior, but also just to describe preferences/tastes associated with people who didn’t grow up in certain exclusive communities from certain preferred regions of the US.

Isn’t this just classist nastiness that we should do away with? Aren’t we as a society over praising people for being born in the right place and judging people too dumb to be born in a rich eastern seaboard town?

I do not think you have the right hold on Tacky -- tacky does not depend on where you were born or grew up.

I don’t think you have a grip on the point I’m making. I’ve known plenty of class travelers who have sufficiently conformed their behavior to the “old money” aesthetic sufficiently to avoid being called tacky. But as for those who fall short, or even just don’t want to, this is an ugly word.

Jerk and a$$hat are ugly words, but they are important monikers when one’s behavior warrants such use.