Snob= rich?

[Ashraful Haque]

I used to think that a snob is a person rich person who looks down on people who aren't rich.

This is the meaning of snob according to Cambridge dictionary- "A person who respects and likes only people who are of a high social class, and/or a person who has extremely high standards who is not satisfied by the things that ordinary people like."

It doesn't say anything about the financial condition of the snob. I wonder if a person who isn't rich can be a snob. I know a lot of people who aren't really rich but wants to be around rich people and buy gucci, prada, etc, just to look rich.
This one time a guy at the gym (who isn't rich) didn't even want to talk to me until he saw my car. Can he be called a snob?

 

[Barque]

I wonder if a person who isn't rich can be a snob.

Yes, they can.

I know a lot of people who aren't really rich but wants to be around rich people and buy gucci, prada, etc, just to look rich.

That doesn't necessarily make them snobs. A snob is a person who looks down on people because of their living standards or social 'qualifications' or education.

 

[Glizdka]

In macroeconomics, there's something called the snob effect. A snob, in macroeconomics, is someone who's willing to pay for overpriced goods just so they can flaunt owning them, simply because others can't afford them, producing an unusual positively-sloped demand curve, which, in my opinion, explains what the word means pretty well. It's someone who buys what others can't just for the sake of making them envious.

You don't necessarily have to be rich to be a snob, but it helps a lot.

It reminds me of that episode 7 season 1 of The Simpsons in which Homer bought an RV he couldn't afford just to impress his neighbor, Flanders.

 

[5jj]

Snobs can look down on people they think are of a lower social class, or were educated at an inferior school, or who speak with a 'common' accent. It's not just to do with wealth.

 

[Tarheel]

Well, if they can afford Gucci and Prada they probably are rich. (Compared to me anyway.)

 

[Glizdka]

There's people who'd easily spend their last dime
just to buy something that would make them shine.

 

[Tarheel]

There's people who'd easily spend their last dime
just to buy something that would make them shine.

I am going to "steal" that (probably with a couple of minor revisions).

 

[Glizdka]

I am going to "steal" that (probably with a couple of minor revisions).

Steal away, but say what revisions you make.
I'm worried that I might have made a mistake.

 

[Tdol]

It is interesting that it originally had the idea of lower status, then false airs and graces:

late 18th cent. (originally dialect in the sense ‘cobbler’): of unknown origin; early senses conveyed a notion of “lower status or rank”, later denoting a person trying to imitate those of higher social standing or wealth. Folk etymology connects the word with Latin sine nobilitate ‘without nobility’ but the first recorded sense has no connection with this.

snob noun - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes | Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com

Definition of snob noun in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.

www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com

 

[Ashraful Haque]

You don't necessarily have to be rich to be a snob, but it helps a lot.

Admittedly I can afford a lot of things that many cannot. For example I tend to buy business class air ticket for a thirty minute flight even though I'm aware that it's a waste of money. I don't think I do it particularly to prove a point. Does that make me a snob?

 

[emsr2d2]

Admittedly I can afford a lot of things that many cannot. For example I tend to buy business class air ticket for a thirty minute flight even though I'm aware that it's a waste of money. I don't think I do it particularly to prove a point. Does that make me a snob?

It depends on why you do it. If you travel business class because you don't want to mix with "ordinary" people in economy class, I'd say you're a snob! If you do it purely because you can afford it and you like the extra legroom (and presumably half-decent food), then that's not snobbery.

 

[probus]

A young fool once grumbled to me that he had lost his brand new sunglasses that had cost him $1,000. When I asked why anyone would pay so much for sunglasses he said "Because your friends shop at the same places you do, and when they see them they know you dropped a grand on them." True story!

 

[Amigos4]

I'm not saying my wife's a snob but even her colostomy bag is a Louis Vuitton.

 

[Ashraful Haque]

It depends on why you do it. If you travel business class because you don't want to mix with "ordinary" people in economy class, I'd say you're a snob! If you do it purely because you can afford it and you like the extra legroom (and presumably half-decent food), then that's not snobbery.

Thanks. I think I understand the meaning better now.