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Surprisingly, there are quite a few displays of quality craftsmanship made in the least elegant, thoroughly bad design. Inspired by the subreddit Awful Taste But Great Execution, Bored Panda has collected a list of gaudy, tacky, overdone, and otherwise tasteless design fails yet done so well, you won't know whether to love or hate these funny things. From dog slippers made to look exactly (and I mean exactly) like the client's pet to a car with a full chrome bodywork, scroll down to check out the worst fails of aesthetics and upvote your faves!

"Since most people cannot say much about why they like something, it seems as though good taste is just the ability to identify a shared preference, nothing more," Dwight Furrow wrote on 3 Quarks Daily. "But looked at from the perspective of artists, musicians, designers, architects, chefs and winemakers, etc. this answer is inadequate. It doesn't explain why creative people, even when they achieve some success, strive to do better. If people find pleasure in what you do and good taste is nothing more than an ability to identify what other people in your social group enjoy, then there is little point in artists trying to get better, since the idea of “better” doesn't refer to any standard aside from “what people like”. So it seems like there must be more to good taste than that."

#2

But Why

But Why

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And that's not all. Good taste can't be solely a matter of having a sense of prevailing social conventions because artists and critics often produce unconventional judgments about what is good and what is a bad idea. Instead, having good taste seems to often involve knowing what is truly excellent or of genuine value, which may have little to do with social conventions.

#3

Saw This Car Filling Up At A Gas Station In Illinois And Did A Double-Take. The Top Tires Spin Too!

Saw This Car Filling Up At A Gas Station In Illinois And Did A Double-Take. The Top Tires Spin Too!

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Even philosophers have tackled good taste. "David Hume, the 18th Century British philosopher, argued that good taste involves “delicacy of sentiment” by which he meant the ability to detect what makes something pleasing or not. In his famous example of the two wine critics, one argued that a wine is good but for a taste of leather he detected; the other argued that the wine is good but for a slight taste of metal. Both were proven right when the container was emptied and a key with a leather thong attached was found at the bottom."

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#4

Staff Kitchen

Staff Kitchen

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james_fox1984 avatar
Foxxy
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I guess that’s a way of bringing “nature” into the office.

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Thus, according to Hume, good taste was roughly what excellent blind tasters have—the ability, acquired through practice and comparison, to taste subtle components of a wine that most non-experts would miss and pass summary judgment on them. "The same could be said of the ability to detect subtle, good-making features of a painting or piece of music. The virtue of such analytic tasting of wines is that the detection of discreet components can at least in theory be verified by science and thus aspires to a degree of objectivity. Flavor notes such as “apricot” or “vanilla” are explained by detectable chemical compounds in the wine. The causal theory lends itself to this kind of test of acuity since causal properties can often be independently verified."

So, someone practiced at discerning elements that ordinary perceivers would miss could be said to have good taste. 

But, for example, a wine taster can identify a whole bowl of various fruit aromas wafting from a wine, pronounce the acidity to be bracing and the tannins fine-grained but firm and still have said little about wine quality. "Wine quality is a function of structure, balance, complexity, and intensity supplemented by even less concrete features such as deliciousness, power, elegance, gracefulness, or refreshment. None of these features can be detected by analytically breaking down a wine because they are inherently relational, just as describing a painted surface as garish or a piece of music as lyrical would involve relations. No single component can account for them; it is a matter of how the components are related. In wine, even a prominent feature like acidity is not merely a function of Ph; perceived acidity differs substantially from objective measures of acidity and is influenced by the prominence of other components such as sugar and tannin levels. None of these relational properties seem amenable to scientific analysis. I doubt that gas chromatography can identify elegance; a wine's balance cannot be appreciated by measuring PH and sugar levels."

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#6

Any Van Gogh Fans Around?

Any Van Gogh Fans Around?

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james_fox1984 avatar
Foxxy
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It’s actually a fallacy that he cut his whole ear off, he only cut off a lil bit.

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So, Furrow argues that identifying these aesthetic features involves a holistic judgment, not an analytic one. "The wine as a whole must be evaluated just as evaluating painting or music involves judgments about the work as a whole. But although these holistic features in a wine are a product of fruit, acidity, and tannic structure no list of wine components will add up to a wine being balanced, elegant or delicious."

#7

Impressed By The Skill, Horrified By The Look

Impressed By The Skill, Horrified By The Look

kseniakisavna Report

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james_fox1984 avatar
Foxxy
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I really like it, I personally couldn’t pull it off but I love it.

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He points to Kant, another 18th Century philosopher, for a better answer. "When I judge something to be beautiful, I do so because I like it. But what about it do I like? For Kant, the pleasure I get from a genuinely beautiful object does not lie in the fact I find it agreeable or pretty. Rather, I enjoy how it makes me think. It stimulates contemplation of a particular kind. Kant called this the free play of understanding and imagination."

#8

I Saw This Today

I Saw This Today

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Slinkman
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Imagine riding alone on a long and lonely road at night and suddenly this appears in your backmirror :O

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Hanike
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You have cat lovers... and then you have hypo lovers! XD

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Sarah Wermuth
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Hope the lights never go out or you never have to pop the hood

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Mrta Brzoza
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Sweet.I personally think that modern cars look meaner every season

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Joe Mangrum
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is a commission by The late Great Tom Kennedy (RIP) and his wife Haideen. Tom did amazing art cars at Burning Man http://www.tomkennedyart.com/blog/?p=4

joemangrum avatar
Joe Mangrum
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

this was a commission by the late great Tom Kennedy Art Car artist of Burning man " Never Forget Tom Kennedy" http://www.tomkennedyart.com/blog/?p=4

susan2845 avatar
Susan Smith
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Too bad you can't see the back. There is a tail that swishes back and forth!

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Jessica Card
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

they could have done without the lips then it would have been legit!

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Mya Lugar
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Some people have more money than they should have, for real!

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Elisabeth Bergbom
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What if someone would put some lips (like on this car's front) around the exhaust pipe?

amuletswimfabrics avatar
R.s. Potter
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There's a old white car with zebra stripes painted on it in my neighbourhood. The owner glued the black bristles from a yard broom down the roof to be it's mane.

stger06824 avatar
Synnika S
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Me and my friends have an inside joke that I'm a hippo lol

edsouza avatar
Ed Souza
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Looks like a big butt... the puckered lips makes it complete, if you know what I mean.

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JillVille
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I know the headlights are the nostrils but each time I look back at it, I feel like it's got two sets of eyes....

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Lazar
Community Member
4 years ago

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Tyler is right. This is obviously the work of a black girl

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"Of course, some objects won't repay that much attention. We explore them for awhile, get bored because we've come to identify and articulate everything important about them, and move on. But according to Kant, an object is genuinely beautiful if it sustains our interest in reflecting on it indefinitely because all attempts to fully understand it fail. The object has an order that constantly opens new ways of understanding it because no particular principle is ever adequate. Beautiful objects are intriguing, mysterious, not fully understood, yet at the same time balanced, harmonious, and well put together."

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"Thus, taste, on Kant's view must refer to our ability to determine whether an object is worth reflecting on, whether it will repay our attention and produce endless fascination. A person of good taste discovers new patterns to explore, finds unexpected avenues of meaning, and responds with feelings and insights that generate new ways of describing something."

#10

Was Next To A Car That Was "Painted" With Duct Tape!

Was Next To A Car That Was "Painted" With Duct Tape!

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james_fox1984 avatar
Foxxy
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Probably wasn’t “painted” with duct tape, the duct tape is probably holding the car together.

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#11

Actually Very Well Made, But Still

Actually Very Well Made, But Still

CoffeeMix54 Report

#12

Dog Slippers Made To Look Exactly Like Your Dog

Dog Slippers Made To Look Exactly Like Your Dog

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#14

His And Hers Wedding Cake

His And Hers Wedding Cake

Sha11owBay Report

#15

One Of The Coolest And Also Worst Things I’ve Ever Seen

One Of The Coolest And Also Worst Things I’ve Ever Seen

dindymolan Report

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ZombieGirl5591
Community Member
4 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well, if you're gonna do the extreme and stretch your lobes...it makes it better to add the cute tat behind it! I like it (These piercings smell though!)

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#16

Grasshopper-Shaped Locomotives Stacked On Top Of Each To Create A Diner In South Korean

Grasshopper-Shaped Locomotives Stacked On Top Of Each To Create A Diner In South Korean

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Dynein
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I can get over the grasshopper look, but not over the fact that they look like they're mating (actual grasshoppers probably don't do it that way, but that's beside the point)

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#17

This Car Entirely Colored With Highlighters

This Car Entirely Colored With Highlighters

disillusioned Report

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james_fox1984 avatar
Foxxy
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Geez that would have taken forever, wouldnt the rain wash it off though?

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#18

Pimped Out Level: Amish

Pimped Out Level: Amish

MyPeadyPie Report

#19

Beaded Hair Portrait

Beaded Hair Portrait

-L-I-V-I-N- Report

#20

These Campbell's Tomato Soup Shoes I Received For Christmas Years Ago

These Campbell's Tomato Soup Shoes I Received For Christmas Years Ago

PoopEater10 Report

#21

Conor McGregor's Suit Of "F*ck You"

Conor McGregor's Suit Of "F*ck You"

WTFisFTWbackwards Report

#24

Pigeon Heels

Pigeon Heels

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#25

This Titanic Blow Up Slide

This Titanic Blow Up Slide

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#27

This Sweater

This Sweater

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casper_slinkman avatar
Slinkman
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Put some toy cars in your pockets and you will never be bored again!

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#28

Lenny And Carl Yin Yang Tattoo

Lenny And Carl Yin Yang Tattoo

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#29

This Cockroach Cappuccino

This Cockroach Cappuccino

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ambrosiaprincess28 avatar
Periwinkle Moonbiscuit
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Honestly if I wasn't expecting this I'd probably drop it on the floor out of shock and disgust...ew no thanks!

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#33

Wallet Chain Ankle Crocs - Thank You Small Town Malls

Wallet Chain Ankle Crocs - Thank You Small Town Malls

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#35

My Entry For The Ugly Sweater Contest At Work: “The Human Santapede”

My Entry For The Ugly Sweater Contest At Work: “The Human Santapede”

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#38

No, It's Not Too Much Chrome

No, It's Not Too Much Chrome

SST87 Report

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My dog is my co pilot.
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That's really really dangerous for other drivers. The sun glinting off the could cause someone to haves to close their eyes for a second and that's all it takes to cause an accident

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