Describe stuck-up, materialistic and snobbish... (Houston, Dallas: mattresses, how much, buying a home)

[Panks]

I've read a few posts, and that describe Dallas as stuck-up,materialistic etc... Since one persons "stuck-up" is another persons "classy", please explain if that means..don't get the paper in your bathrobe or don't go to the store without make-up or trade your car in for a new one every year...?

I know not everyone in Dallas would be the same, but I'm just curious if my idea of stuck-up is like anyone elses?

[aceplace]

Originally Posted by Panks

I've read a few posts, and that describe Dallas as stuck-up,materialistic etc... Since one persons "stuck-up" is another persons "classy", please explain if that means..don't get the paper in your bathrobe or don't go to the store without make-up or trade your car in for a new one every year...?

I know not everyone in Dallas would be the same, but I'm just curious if my idea of stuck-up is like anyone elses?

Sure, I'll try... if you label others as stuck-up, materialistic, snobbish, etc., you're actually revealing something about yourself.

Stuck-up means that your social behavior is so inappropriate people treat you as an inferior.

Materialistic means you can't handle your finances and you resent people who can.

Snobbish means that people recognize you for a jerk at first glance, and don't need to spend time to get to know you before they reject you.

[LastDallasNative]

The Dallas area is so transient that even if you meet someone who is stuck-up, materalistic and snobblish, he (or she) will be moving to Atlanta, Phoenix, Houston, or Las Vegas inside of one year of so.

[USA_Mom]

Originally Posted by LastDallasNative

The Dallas area is so transient that even if you meet someone who is stuck-up, materalistic and snobblish, he (or she) will be moving to Atlanta, Phoenix, Houston, or Las Vegas inside of one year of so.

LOL sometimes they move back. We had a neighbor who was CONSTANTLY COMPLAINING about how "wrong" everything was in Texas (she was from Jersey)...I mean from the grocery stores to the sidewalks. She moved to Phoenix....then a year later she came back and started all over again.

[galore]

The metroplex has pockets of really well-off upper middle class people, all stereotypically living in fairly new 5000sf+ french country or mediterranean luxury house complete with BMWs+Lexuses for him and her and the two kids and the family dog. A typical example is west Plano between the tollway and Preston. On the plus side, those areas are very well maintained and look upscale.

I guess areas like that give the metroplex this stuck-up-materialistic-snobbish reputation. I wouldn't use those rather derogatory words to describe Dallas but I can see how some people might think of those areas that way.

[KittySkyfish]

I agree with aceplace. People who toss around labels like stuck-up, materialistic and snobbish seem to be full of those very same traits. Invariably those that are keen to complain about others put themselves and their lifestyles on a higher pedestal as a contrast to other people's shortcomings.

As if their lives are more "real".

[socketz]

Originally Posted by KittySkyfish

I agree with aceplace. People who toss around labels like stuck-up, materialistic and snobbish seem to be full of those very same traits. Invariably those that are keen to complain about others put themselves and their lifestyles on a higher pedestal as a contrast to other people's shortcomings.

As if their lives are more "real".

Excellent post !!!

I can't believe how much time people here spend thinking about this kind of thing. In CA, you could live a mile from someone in a home that cost 3x what yours cost, nobody cared. Maybe they made more money, perhaps they leveraged more to get the home, maybe they were even living paycheck to paycheck to pay for it.....ultimately, who cares - it's their choice and you could make the same choice if you chose to do so.

Here, if someone gives the outward appearance of being sucessful, they get tossed into a snob group and painted with a set of broad generalizations that usually are not close to being true.

Even entire counties like Collin get painted that way....which is bizarre in my opinion. Everything here seems to revert to an 'Us vs. Them' (just look at the discussions here) mentality and I'm puzzled as to why that happens.

[eweez]

I've lived in Plano and McKinney since 1981, with the exception of 5 years I lived in Ventura, CA. The people here around Dallas are not snobbish, stuck-up except for click-ish places like high school. (Hopefully, those out of school have outgrown such silly games). However, I do find the people here ARE materialistic. Much more so than Ventura!
By that I mean that in Ventura most everyone wore clothes that were 2-3 years old, alot even older. We had lots of fun shopping in "thrift stores" to find hiking clothes...sometimes we'd find more $ in the pocket than we paid for the jeans! But here in Dallas, people only want to wear "current season" designed clothes. Now, I am over 50 and married, and actually hate to clothes shop, so I don't worry about current fashion. But the younger girls around here! You can see everyone so dressed up at the malls. I mean too, have you seen that Sam Moon store by Stonebrier Mall that is so huge and it's all handbags? Ventura was a lot more laid back. There was also alot more rusted banged up cars driving around polluting and junk falling off the backs of RV's and trucks as they went down the road. I saw so many people moving mattresses on top of their cars, not even tied on, each passenger (including the driver) had a hand out their window, holding onto a corner of the mattress.... So, what'dya'want? Fussiness and style....or laid-back with someone's junk hitting your windshield? I actually feel a bit safer here on the TX roads... I also found it SOOOO depressing that all these families in Ventura had no hope of buying a home for their family. The little 1000 sq. ft 2bd/1 bath were going for $500,000. Half a mil! I don't know why those people didn't MOVE to where they could afford to live. I suppose they had family there they couldn't leave. But if I was them, I would've moved the whole kit and kaboodle down here and bought several pretty homes right next to each other....

[socketz]

Most of CA has that same type of attitude. Even more than the weather, I think that's what makes CA a great place to live. If you want to find the same thing, go to Austin. A couple of my friends in Austin left Dallas because they felt that there was always a measuring stick of some kind being held up against their personal lives. Here in Dallas, many say 'live and let live', but I think in practice that mentality is more like 'live and let live as long as you live just like me'.

[galore]

Originally Posted by socketz

Excellent post !!!

I can't believe how much time people here spend thinking about this kind of thing. In CA, you could live a mile from someone in a home that cost 3x what yours cost, nobody cared. Maybe they made more money, perhaps they leveraged more to get the home, maybe they were even living paycheck to paycheck to pay for it.....ultimately, who cares - it's their choice and you could make the same choice if you chose to do so.

Oh please. With this attitutde you are not much different than people who do notice that there are stuck-up materialistic and snobbish people.

You are denying reality, if you pretend that those attributes don't exist in some people. Nobody says that all of Collin county is like that.

IMO, it is perfectly legitimate to discuss, if a certain area has that materialistic feel, especially if you have children. I mean, if I had children, I probably also wouldn't want to live in an area where it is normal for a student to get an X5 SUV for graduation.