you have a very common and ordinary taste

[alpacinou]

Hello.

What is a word which means common and ordinary and also has a "negative" connotation?

Let me give you an example: Your friend likes the lowbrow movies and books and music that the majority of people like. You want to tell her that what the majority of people like is not very high-quality or highbrow or classy. You tell her this: You have a very common and ordinary taste in movies. Or your taste is similar to those of the unsophisticated, unintellectual masses.

What word would you use which means common and ordinary?

 

[Tarheel]

The word "unsophisticated" seems to work there.

www.dictionary.com

 

[teechar]

Try also unimaginative or plain.

 

[alpacinou]

Try also unimaginative or plain.

But that doesn't connote her taste is similar to those of the majority of people.

 

[probus]

I think lowbrow works for that. Also plebeian.

 

[alpacinou]

I think lowbrow works for that. Also plebean.

I was thinking about "plebeian" but I thought maybe this word is used by people from well-off families to denigrate people from working class families.

Can I say this to my friend?

You have a plebeian taste in music / movies / books.
I think social media platforms like Instagram are designed for people with plebeian taste.

What exactly would that mean?

 

[probus]

I agree that plebeian is usually slightly pejorative. But some people positively embrace and even glorify their own plebeianism, if there is such a word as plebeianism. Think, for example, of skinheads and punk-rockers.

 

[emsr2d2]

You have a plebeian taste in music/movies/books.

Don't put a space on either side of a slash.

 

[alpacinou]

Just so I'm clear, are these sentences correct and natural?

1. You have a plebeian taste in music/movies/books.
2. I think social media platforms like Instagram are designed for people with plebeian taste.

 

[probus]

They are correct and only very slightly unnatural. As a native speaker I would omit the indefinite article in 1, and use the plural tastes in both. That would make them perfectly natural in my variety of English.

 

[tedmc]

Is the word "plebeian" which originated in ancient Rome common? I have only read it in history books.
I think it has derogatory connotations.

 

[Tarheel]

No, it's not common. And most people wouldn't understand it. I would stick with unsophisticated. Most of the rest of them are rather insulting.

 

[emsr2d2]

If you were chatting with friends and said "You're such a pleb!" to one of them, they would probably take it quite well because you're friends. If you direct it towards a stranger, they would probably be insulted.

In BrE, "pleb" is commonly used. I imagine a large number of the people who use it wouldn't be able to tell you that it's a shortened form of "plebeian".

 

[probus]

For anybody who cares about such arcana, "pleb" is a back-formation based on the erroneous idea that the Latin plebs is plural. In fact, plebs is a singular noun meaning "the common people" as opposed to the senators and aristocrats.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

you have [STRIKE]a[/STRIKE] very common and ordinary taste

With a, it means she doesn't have an interesting flavor.

Hello.

What is a word which means common and ordinary and also has a "negative" connotation?

Let me give you an example: Your friend likes the lowbrow movies and books and music that the majority of people like. You want to tell her that what the majority of people like is not very high-quality or highbrow or classy. You tell her this: You have a very common and ordinary taste in movies. Or your taste is similar to those of the unsophisticated, unintellectual masses.

What word would you use which means common and ordinary?

It depends on how low you want to go. To be more cutting, you might say:

- gutter
- Neanderthal
- Skid Row
- low-rent
- lowbrow
- least-common-denominator
- sophmoric
- lumpen proletarian
- trashy
- Joe Sixpack

To be a little kinder, you could say:

- middlebrow
- pedestrian
- Main Street
- mainstream

My wife adds:

- run-of-the-mill
- unevolved

 

[Tarheel]

None of them are complimentary, but the words pedestrian and run-of'the-mill are probably the least insulting.