To be or not to be a snob

by The Fox and The Flamingo

If this is the question, The Fox and The Flamingo will try to answer it in our very first article. The word “snob” has many variations more or less on the same note, depending on the language of use. For the English, a snob is a person who respects people of high social position, looks down on those he considers inferior and discredits them just based on their social standing. For the French a snob is also a person who imitates the opinions and manners trending at the time in the elite circles, a parvenu. In the Japanese language a snob is often referred to as a charlatan, a vulgar person who wants to appear better than he really is. For the Romanians a snob is one who admires without judgment everything fashionable. In any case “snob” has definitely a negative sound to it.

The Fox and The Flamingo have varied opinions, about everything, so we’ll be sharing some with you, dear reader, but mainly between us and just for the fun of it.

So why were we, two girls from a small town, in an ex communist country in eastern Europe, labeled by some as snobs? We would like to give a positive spin on the word “snob” and explain now, fifteen years later and thousands of kilometers apart, why we think it’s a compliment rather than an offence.

We think the word “snob” is used in most cases wrongly. We made a list (because this is what we like to do best) of some of the reasons we were labeled as such. Let’s see…we welcome you to our “club of snobs” if, among other things, you:

• don’t frequent questionable, cigarette reeking, creep lurking pubs;
• eat healthy (most of the time);
• use the word “kitsch”;
• actually use cutlery properly;
• prefer wine to beer or international food over your homeland’s;
• know what an amuse-bouche is;
• don’t wear polyester;
• know how to use a scarf;
• don’t eat bread with every dish (aka dishes based on rice, potatoes, pasta etc);
• don’t drink or eat from dirty dishware;
• don’t feed your baby or toddler sugar or crisps (potato chips for Americans);
• take a shower every day;
• know the correct capital of Switzerland;
• refuse to read Anne Rice;
• don’t get drunk every weekend;
• know what a corset is.

Having standards based on personal preferences, education, experience and so on isn’t equivalent to snobbism. Most people use the word “snob” inaccurately, it’s easy to label people negatively or wrongly and to judge them by their choices. Everybody does it, we are no hypocrites. In this case we are proud to be considered “snobs” and the The Fox and The Flamingo are welcoming you to our blog, to discuss among other things, snobbish stuff.

If you would like to leave a comment, opinion or feedback you are more than welcomed to! Or if you would like to contact us, please write to us at [email protected].