Why is "Nice" the Adjective of Choice for Pretentious People?

[The Yankee]

Omigod, seriously, thank you I havent gotten this crazed since somebody here hit me with the word 'charcouterie'.

Now you're going to have to tell us what the heck a "charcouterie" is. My brain is hurting.

its a white wine.

Incidentally, owing to the obscure and sophisticated sounding name this was one of my top recommendations when I pretended to be a wine expert at a wine tasting at my old job (when our wine expert was on vacation). Of course, seeing as how wine snobs are ridiculously easy to BS with, they all believed I was an actual wine expert and I got many complements on my completely random recommendations.

That is just brilliant. It's making me reconsider my future. Drink wine and make random compliments at wines with way too many letters in the name and profit.

Anyways, I think you may be onto something. Perhaps it's because their standards (real or imagined) are so much higher that they cannot come up with another adjective? Like exquisite. But then again, that's something only a butler would say....

 

[EdwardTking]

My English teacher told me he knew old ladies who only used two adjectives.

Nice
Funny

I regard the word adjective "nice" as an understatement prefix.

 

[skadistic]

Whats with all you pretentious peeps dissin' Monster Trucks? There is alot of engineering to those machines......

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Now you're going to have to tell us what the heck a "charcouterie" is. My brain is hurting.

Oh, sorry. A charcouterie is where people in France buy their roasted meats.

 

[CaptainF]

I almost never use the word "nice"-, now that I think about it.

I also don't use the word "enjoy" when describing stuff that I do.

I think you may in fact be onto something Fifty.

 

[Fifty]

That is just brilliant. It's making me reconsider my future. Drink wine and make random compliments at wines with way too many letters in the name and profit.

It's really amazingly easy. I just read the label on the wines and committed them to memory, made a really snazy presentation for my table (really nice linens, silver ice buckets for keeping the whites cool, straightened my bow tie, layed out napkins and glasses in fancy shapes, etc.) and proceeded to offer all manner of random recommendations.

One lady didn't take what I recommended then came up to me later and told me about how she tried some of what I recommended (which her friend had) and it was so perfect, and that she wishes she had taken my recommendation because "I'm the expert!". She then proceeded to tip me generously and inquire as to where I learned about wines (told her that I toured the Walla Walla and Napa Valleys for a year)

All things considered that night I made $150 above what I would have as just a normal server at the event just based off tips for my stupid recommendations.

 

[skadistic]

My brothers job is to actually tour the wine regions of the world and pretend to be an expert when he orders booze for the liquor store. Hes the pinnacle of pretentious and pompous and some other adjectives I can't use here.

 

[Masquerouge]

Oh, sorry. A charcouterie is where people in France buy their roasted meats.

A charcuterie.

And you guys have no idea how easy it is to be a pompous snob when you're French.

Oh, maybe you do...

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

We know what it's like to be on the recieving end...


I don't really notice what Fifty it talking about. I use the word nice to describe things, but it's just as interchangable as any other completmentary adjective, it's pure chance whether I call it nice, good, tasty, or whatever comes to mind.

 

[DNK]

Well, you can't really have an "awesome" or "extreme" wine drinking. It's "nice" because that's the most you can really get from wine. It's pretentious therefore because it's obvious the person isn't that enthused, but still feels the need to verbalize his rather lackluster appreciation for whatever, because he assumes it matters.

Or you can just drink the wine, enjoy it, and not have to mention to everyone it's enjoyable because it's just wine and you have less pretentious things to talk about, like that killer monster truck rally you just saw.

Now, if someone goes all out and says "awesome" wine/concerto, then I would assume they actually did care about it and wouldn't call it pretentious; they just have odd things they get excited about. It's from the heart, is my point.

 

[C~G]

Well, you can't really have an "awesome" or "extreme" wine drinking. It's "nice" because that's the most you can really get from wine. It's pretentious therefore because it's obvious the person isn't that enthused, but still feels the need to verbalize his rather lackluster appreciation for whatever, because he assumes it matters.

Or you can just drink the wine, enjoy it, and not have to mention to everyone it's enjoyable because it's just wine and you have less pretentious things to talk about, like that killer monster truck rally you just saw.

Now, if someone goes all out and says "awesome" wine/concerto, then I would assume they actually did care about it and wouldn't call it pretentious; they just have odd things they get excited about. It's from the heart, is my point.

I disagree.

As most of use here aren't these wine drinkers (and I see some even downright hate them) our possible understanding how much they enjoy this activity is handicapped and causes us to think that "nice" is somehow pretentious. For me wine and many other activities aren't afford commenting but I cannot deny that I sometimes comment something in such way that could sound like pretentious for someone else that doesn't understand the activity.

There are also people talking about many other things with words like "cool", "sexy", "awesome", and so on which work exactly like "nice".
For someone else some other activity is so exciting that they choose word like "sexy" for it while others see it pretentious.

When you look monster trucks or wrestling or whatever it is just that for others (just like wine drinking) but for those that enjoy the activity, it's something more. Go ask women about it and they will see commenting these mostly of these actions as pretentious. Like men would probably see brooming of your hair for three hours.

Point is that we all comment our activity even though probably not necessarily and even some quiet loudly and in this light "nice" of the wine-sipping folk is rather mild phenomena.

You're just all jealous communists towards such high class snobs.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

The french even have the city of Nice. How pretentious is that?

(Ugh! It's now legal to shoot me because of this lame attempt at homour )

 

[Mirc]

^ But it's not read as the English "nice". It's read more like "Niece".

 

[Rambuchan]

The OP has not the first idea about pretentiousness.

"Nice" is one of the most pathetic, non-commital, non-descript, ineloquent and unimaginative adjectives that an aspiring arsehole can ever use. It wreaks of understatement, belies a lack of culture and appreciation of finery, a poor upbringing, a vocabulary that is left wanting and is generally a reflection of one's membership of the plebian classes.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

^^ Nice one, sir

 

[IglooDame]

Do these people live in or around Boston?

Obviously not, or they'd have preceded "nice" with "wicked".

And speaking of wine and pretentiousness, what the hell is up with the wine itself being called pretentious? Pot kettle black pal, pot kettle black.

 

[Mr. Dictator]

this thread is nice.

soft, cedar aftertaste.

would go great with poultry.

 

[C~G]

this thread is nice.

soft, cedar aftertaste.

would go great with poultry.

Not in my life time, pal.

This thread is AAAWWWSSSOOOMME.

First, it's like there's nothing...but then, it's like you get these super-sexy-hot vibeees. Whoaaaa, duuudeee!

Just take some white noise with it and kick it!!!!!!!!!

Ahem.

This is getting spammy, what were we talking about here?

 

[Valka D'Ur]

"Nice" can be used in the negative, too, as a sarcastic retort -- as the Britcom "Keeping Up Appearances" character Onslow says whenever somebody else says something he considers stupid or disrespectful ("Oh, nice!").

Actually, there is something else that occurred to me while reading this thread: How can you tell if someone/something is "sophisticated?" The word "nice" seems too mild to describe "sophisticated," but is sophistication something that can be merely nice, or is it just too snobbish and ridiculous to even try to define? It's always seemed to me that sophistication is merely the art of knowing how to put up an act that, if successful, makes people think you're smarter and better than you really are...

(pardon if this doesn't make a lot of sense; it's early in the morning for me )

 

[Fifty]

The OP has not the first idea about pretentiousness.

"Nice" is one of the most pathetic, non-commital, non-descript, ineloquent and unimaginative adjectives that an aspiring arsehole can ever use. It wreaks of understatement, belies a lack of culture and appreciation of finery, a poor upbringing, a vocabulary that is left wanting and is generally a reflection of one's membership of the plebian classes.

excessive adjectivery is the hallmark of new money wannabes.