Is there a compromise between "intellectual" and "pretentious"?

[kahljorn]

personally i think that stupid hippies sounds like a better environment than hicks and gorillas maybe

[Sam]

TRY LIVING WITH BOTH.

[Kitsa]

Eh. It's one of those things. Having an opinion is pretentious, not having an opinion is pretentious, having a problem with something is pretentious, not having a problem with something is pretentious.

It turns into a whole big SAYS YOU where you're the victor if you can successfully persuade everyone else that the other guy's view is pompous-stupid-whatever.

Which is pretty much any social situation boiled down.

I'm just going to go ahead and say whatever the hell I want and let the clumps of shit fall where they may, k?

[10,000 Volt Ghost]

[quote=Kitsa;590158

I'm just going to go ahead and say whatever the hell I want and let the clumps of shit fall where they may, k?[/quote] Itsa deal.

[Tadao]

Not acceptable.

[Colonel Flagg]

Going into this with the right frame of mind, such pretension can actually be a very effective form of entertainment.

[Kitsa]

And that's why it wound up here.

[Colonel Flagg]

Touché

[Jeanette X]

This sums my feelings up nicely:

http://www.thepaincomics.com/Liberal...e%20Empire.jpg

(No, not hotlinking and sucking up his bandwidth)

[Tadao]

I will though

[Big McLargehuge]

i find this thread pretentious

[Kitsa]

Yes, we've gone there.

[Sethomas]

Making an accusation of pretension is pretentious. If you know what "pretentious" means, you're pretentious.

Actually, the general subject of this thread is something that interests me a lot because of different biomes where I've found myself. My annoyance is that very often the term "pretentious" will get thrown out to claim a moral victory over someone who is simply smarter or merely more articulate than the plaintiff. If someone's level of conversation is below yours, they're either a moron or philistine. If it's above yours, they're obviously pretentious. It's exactly like the George Carlin line, "Ever notice that everyone who drives slower than you is a moron and everyone who drives faster than you is a maniac?"

[Big McLargehuge]

hey seth, hows the crazy goin?

[Sethomas]

Toward litigation! But I'm the plaintiff!

But I probably shouldn't talk about that online!

[Big McLargehuge]

oh no, btw i think i still have that incredibly entertaining, incredibly insane autobiographical story you sent me on my computer somewhere :0 should i destroy that?

[DeadKennedys]

Originally Posted by Sethomas

If someone's level of conversation is below yours, they're either a moron or philistine. If it's above yours, they're obviously pretentious. It's exactly like the George Carlin line, "Ever notice that everyone who drives slower than you is a moron and everyone who drives faster than you is a maniac?"

Very good point. But generally, people don't feel the need to degrade the English language with newspeak like "breakfasting". I wouldn't say their level of conversation is higher - they just really want to be noticed. "God please think I'm indy I'm trying so hard"

I can listen to scientists and other experts talking and not get annoyed, even if their conversation level is higher than mine. But when they purposely use their stupid jargon to act superior, I lose interest.

[Jeanette X]

Originally Posted by Sethomas

Making an accusation of pretension is pretentious. If you know what "pretentious" means, you're pretentious.

Actually, the general subject of this thread is something that interests me a lot because of different biomes where I've found myself. My annoyance is that very often the term "pretentious" will get thrown out to claim a moral victory over someone who is simply smarter or merely more articulate than the plaintiff. If someone's level of conversation is below yours, they're either a moron or philistine. If it's above yours, they're obviously pretentious. It's exactly like the George Carlin line, "Ever notice that everyone who drives slower than you is a moron and everyone who drives faster than you is a maniac?"

Methinks you doth protest too much.

[Grislygus]

That emoticon makes you pretentious!

[kahljorn]

the thing i like most about hippies is that if you slap them in the face and call them names their facade either drops or they cry

hick types just generally punch you in the face. I do appreciate the honesty
those peope suck at driving though they always run red lights what a crazy world

[10,000 Volt Ghost]

I definitely think there's a difference between people who try and increase their vocabulary and people just trying to sound "Indy" or intelligent. I just get bored with the words I use. Ridiculous and horrible become obsolete after the 5th time in a conversation.

[Big McLargehuge]

Originally Posted by kahljorn

the thing i like most about hippies is that if you slap them in the face and call them names their facade either drops or they cry

hick types just generally punch you in the face. I do appreciate the honesty
those peope suck at driving though they always run red lights what a crazy world

i live in an area almost solely populated by hicks, i would trade them for hippies any day.

[Big Papa Goat]

Ya, I think 'breakfasting' is something that basically doesn't have to be said. I mean, just because there's a word, doesn't mean you have to use it. Also, I notice that there's a lot of pretentious people who really don't know what they're talking about and just obscure their lack of understanding with jargon and claims that they're talking about things that are too complicated to talk about in terms that anyone might possibly understand. That's the kind of pretentiousness that really bugs me.

[Kitsa]

I hold that it's a gut decision and you can get a feel for a person's intentions. Given the circumstances in which this whole scenario took place, I'm calling her pretentious.

Also, I don't look at adjusting speech "upward" or "downward", but rather toward the widest audience possible. I'm not going to flatter myself into assuming that she reckoned me of the "breakfasting" sort.

[Sethomas]

eh, I guess I forgot to add that true pretension is something I see a lot. I live in a college town! Basically, I judge someone as being pretentious when their speaking tendencies, e.g. diction, annunciation, &c., are done with an obvious indication that the person is more concerned with how the delivery of information will be taken than she is interested in the spoken matter itself.

In my college town, one that houses a Big 10 University, what I find is that people here are far, far more interested in pursuing academia as a reflection of themselves over a reflection of their interests. As a result, a cheap simulacrum of intellectual discourse is actually preferred over the real thing. People here are bent on saying stupid shit to sound smart. This is striking to me because I've also attended a different university where the academic standards were much, much higher. People there knew that they'd already proved themselves as being among the world intellectual élite, so they didn't find it necessary to talk about it all the time or slip it in as they recount the quality of their hollandaise while breakfasting. Real, forced pretension is an insecurity thing, and yes, I do know how ubiquitous it is.

Also: having borne from a redneck heritage, I am very regularly thrown into a Sophie's Choice of sounding pretentious by talking in my normal voice, or talking like those around me to make it more comfortable until I am justly attacked for condescending. Eh!