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NoVA, being somewhat more conservative than some metro suburbs/exurbs (or places like Burlington, VT), is going to run a bit more bougeois than bohemian on the spectrum, but the bobo traits are all there -- the granite counters and stainless steel appliances, the advanced degrees, the idea-oriented work (think tanks, government, issue advocacy and etc.), the overpriced coffee, the foreign travel/living experience and so on
So remind me again what the difference is between your NOVA "bobo" and a yuppie?
For folks who've traveled and lived overseas they seem amazingly unworldly. Perhaps they had their noses in a book or professional journal while over there?
Normie, I'm "shocked, shocked I'd say" at you for suggesting that was my meaning. Although you're pretty amazingly perceptive for someone without an Ivy League degree. You can be in my Non-Ivy League Alumni Association.
Shhhhh don't tell my neighbors but I didn't even go to college until I was in my late 20's. Somehow I've always managed to fit in just by being intelligent (but who knows what might have happened if anyone had found me out... something involving tar and feathers, I'm sure... )
By the way, I do want to apologize to ILD for going on a bit of a rant there. I'm not putting down your post or your ideas, it's just that you happened to hit on a pet peeve of mine. I dislike cutesy labels, they make me gag-- and even more than that I dislike people like David Brooks who try to label others so he can sell a book. Just want to make sure you know it's nothing against you. (You should have seen the rant I went on last fall over the term "soccer mom." )
So as long as I'm on a rant, I might as well go for it: IMO people only coin cutesy labels because they think it makes them look important, they want to sell something, or they want to belittle others. All bad reasons, IMO, and more to the point labels rarely describe people well. Most people just aren't that easy to categorize.
Granite countertops are played out, people. I have to laugh when I see a photo of a kitchen with "granite and stainless!!!" as the main image representing a property Moderator cut: Not a generic MLS site or wherever. And when you finally find a tiny image of the actual front of the home, it's a '50s rambler with weeds in the yard. Seriously, though, I'm fine with granite - natural granite is lovely. My parents have slate in their home (a remodeled '60s ranch on Bird Key in Sarasota, FL), primarily because my mom was sick of granite. Now she's regretting it and missing the (seriously!) mood-uplifting, coral-y granite from their old house.
I personally don't like the idea of a countertop I have to 'baby.' I think I'll go with stainless, wood, or some neon shade of corian when I have my own house. I can just imagine chopping veggies right on the surface of (yes, you can do that) a cool, glowing, Curaçao-colored slab of synthetic awesomeness.
BTW, I work in a Federal cultural institution where the masses would expect everyone to have an 'Ivy League' degree. Not so, unless UMD (the school any random one of my colleagues is most likely to have attended) is considered 'Ivy League.'
Last edited by bmwguydc; 06-30-2010 at 09:13 PM..
Reason: Please post only general MLS sites, not sponsored sites. Thank you.
I personally don't like the idea of a countertop I have to 'baby.' I think I'll go with stainless, wood, or some neon shade of corian when I have my own house. I can just imagine chopping veggies right on the surface of (yes, you can do that) a cool, glowing, Curaçao-colored slab of synthetic awesomeness.
You do have to "baby" Corian a little, because it scratches if you look at it the wrong way. (Yes, you can sand the scratches out, but it's still a pain.) And it can burn with very high heat.
I am probably one of the only people in my neighborhood with Corian countertops, black appliances, and vinyl flooring in my kitchen. The design center lady had quite the eyeroll at our selections, but we picked what *we* liked, not everyone else. Imagine that!
Alicia, I never understand why people believe they have to "baby" granite. I've had it in two houses, one for 11 years and now for >8 years, and it has been cleaned with normal cleaners, and neither needed resealing at that point -- I am sure they would eventually -- and look and work great. I don't think people typically have to baby it, unless they use it as a cutting board, use it very heavily, abuse it, etc. I know about the websites that claim you have to seal it each year. But in my experience, that would be like replacing your roof annually.
Plastic cutting boards cost < $20--a lot less than granite, Corian, stainless steel, wood, etc., and can be put in the dishwasher! Nothing easier.
Agreed. Aside from the Bush Administration DOJ's recent love affair with Regent Law graduates, DOJ lawyers tend to have extremely impressive academic pedigrees, which means Ivy League or equivalent institutions. I know that State Department employees are similar in that regard.
Fairfax County is a big place, with a lot of regional differences based on race, age/type of housing stock, income, educational backgrounds, etc. "Government employee" may tend to mean "Pentagon" in Fort Hunt, but you're a lot likelier to find a foreign service officer or government lawyer in West Falls Church. My hunch would be that the closer you get to DC, the better educated people tend to be.
Agreed! Although now I am beginning to see such people move to Eastern Loudoun and even places like Purcellville.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CAVA1990
You're the one who inserted that term into the conversation, not I. I'm still calling them "yuppies" remember?
Now that you've have been "found out" about not understanding the term, you "re-frame" the conversation to avoid the fact that you didn't understand the term. Tell me, exactly what spelling should "bobo" have? Apparently, saying "I am a bobo from NoVA" was going to garner laughter of derision. Admit it -- you confused "bobo" with "boho," didn't you? Seems to fit your assertion that they only exist in NYC, SanFran, etc. (prime Boho-chic territory). BTW, David Brooks lives in metro DC (Bethesda, I believe, and is a proudly self-declared Bobo living amongst Bobos).
Quote:
Originally Posted by CAVA1990
So remind me again what the difference is between your NOVA "bobo" and a yuppie?
For folks who've traveled and lived overseas they seem amazingly unworldly. Perhaps they had their noses in a book or professional journal while over there?
If you read the book, you'd know the difference between bobo and yuppies. The stereotypical yuppie in the making was the protagonist of the film "Wall Street." They are a dying and perhaps dead breed. At least on the surface and rhetorically, "greed is good" is no longer acceptable in polite company among bobos. Bobos will want to make good money and be competitive, but they'll justify their work in terms other than "greed is good, that's all that matters." A yuppie would buy a $100,000 car to show off. A bobo finds that gauche, but he will spend $100,000 in kitchen/bathroom renovation and find that more "natural."
But read the book and find out for yourself why there are such philosophical differences. Brooks actually writes in-depth about the philosophical origins of these differences, including a very good summary of the changes in urban/suburban development philosophy since the immediate post-war period.
As for your world travel/unworldly remark, I suppose these well-travelled folks are "unworldly" compared to your precious self? Whenever I see people sneering at others for being unsophisticated and unworldly, I usually see folks you need to look at the mirror.
I am an Ivy League graduate with advanced degrees. I lived all over the world. But I have no problems going pheasant hunting with someone with only a high school diploma and has never lived elsewhere. But that, too, is a very bobo attitude.
Quote:
Originally Posted by normie
By the way, I do want to apologize to ILD for going on a bit of a rant there. I'm not putting down your post or your ideas, it's just that you happened to hit on a pet peeve of mine. I dislike cutesy labels, they make me gag-- and even more than that I dislike people like David Brooks who try to label others so he can sell a book. Just want to make sure you know it's nothing against you. (You should have seen the rant I went on last fall over the term "soccer mom." )
So as long as I'm on a rant, I might as well go for it: IMO people only coin cutesy labels because they think it makes them look important, they want to sell something, or they want to belittle others. All bad reasons, IMO, and more to the point labels rarely describe people well. Most people just aren't that easy to categorize.
OK, rant over.
Of course people aren't easy to categorize (although social psychologists and situational economists have found that a large majority behave in a predictable pattern in most situations).
But paradigms are an important way to understand changing trends and patterns. Without definitions and terms ("cutesy" or no), however imperfect and imprecise they are, it would be hard to discuss change in society. Besides, Brooks is pretty clear on the nature of his work ("comedic sociology"). He is not a scholar. He writes, in part, for humor. And, frankly, the book is a humorous, self-deprecating look at the suburban elites of today's America. Most of us upper to upper-middle income NoVA residents will find quite a bit in common with the descriptions and we will laugh at ourselves.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alicia Bradley
Granite countertops are played out, people. I have to laugh when I see a photo of a kitchen with "granite and stainless!!!" as the main image representing a property Mod cut or wherever. And when you finally find a tiny image of the actual front of the home, it's a '50s rambler with weeds in the yard. Seriously, though, I'm fine with granite - natural granite is lovely. My parents have slate in their home (a remodeled '60s ranch on Bird Key in Sarasota, FL), primarily because my mom was sick of granite. Now she's regretting it and missing the (seriously!) mood-uplifting, coral-y granite from their old house.
I personally don't like the idea of a countertop I have to 'baby.' I think I'll go with stainless, wood, or some neon shade of corian when I have my own house. I can just imagine chopping veggies right on the surface of (yes, you can do that) a cool, glowing, Curaçao-colored slab of synthetic awesomeness.
It's not that granite is "all that." It's just that it symbolizes a certain mentality that began to emerge among the elites since the 90's (the minimalist stone-, wood- and metal-look) compared to, say, the "artificial" linoleum- and laminate-look of the past.
Last edited by bmwguydc; 06-30-2010 at 09:16 PM..
Reason: Edited quoted text
LOL, getting back to the point of this thread, I guess the whole countertop discussion shows that many people in Nova aren't snobs. They choose the countertop they like without worrying what someone else thinks. At the same time, we do have some people who do indeed get snobby about counter tops.
To answer the OP's question, that's Nova in a nutshell. Is everyone snobby here? No. Are some people snobby here? Yes. You'll encounter a little bit of everything here, so if you don't like the first people you meet move on and you'll meet someone completely different.
FWIW, I've bought a few homes and I look for granite. But that's just my personal taste. I like the way it looks and I don't care about impressing the "cool" crowd. So IMO putting it on an MLS is a smart move, since there are plenty of people like me. The realtors around here know their customers, and they list it because they know people seek it.
I am probably one of the only people in my neighborhood with Corian countertops, black appliances, and vinyl flooring in my kitchen. The design center lady had quite the eyeroll at our selections, but we picked what *we* liked, not everyone else. Imagine that!
You're not the only one! White rather than stainless, laminate rather than granite, vinyl and (gasp) carpet rather than hardwood. And we get many compliments on how our house looks. It wasn't to save money (though that was a nice fringe benefit .), but because that's what we like.
Despite the cliche that we're all supposed to endlessly brag about our schools I actually have no idea where most of my neighbors went to school.
If they had gone to Ivy League schools, you would have learned about it within the first five or ten minutes of your first conversation. Like you, I don't hear much bragging about schools my friends attended or the schools their children attend -- except for the Ivy Leaguers. Maybe it's because we have more Ivy Leaguers here most places that the bragging-about-schools stereotype exists.
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Although you're pretty amazingly perceptive for someone without an Ivy League degree. 
You can be in my Non-Ivy League Alumni Association.
) 
