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If you thought snobbery was reserved for wine tastings and fancy cars, think again. Even the size of one’s trailer (as in, a trailer in a trailer park) can cause someone to turn their nose up at you. People are endlessly creative when coming up with niche reasons to act like they are better than someone else.
Someone asked “What’s the strangest snobbery you’ve encountered?” and netizens shared their most bizarre stories. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote the most truly unhinged examples and be sure to add your own tales to the comments section down below.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Breastfeeding over bottle feeding. It's a massive flex that hurts so many new mums. My wife couldn't produce milk, so we didn't have a choice. There was a number of women who looked down on her.
StrangeOne 1 hour ago
Fed is best. I've come across this snobbery online. Someone told me my kid has problems because 9 months of breastfeeding wasn't enough, and that I'm selfish for prioritizing my own health and medical needs over breastfeeding.
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#2
I used to have a chicken as a pet. Just 1 chicken. I rescued her from my university dorm roommate who stole the chicken from.... god knows where one night when she was drunk and was too ashamed to return it. One day she just packed her bags and left without telling me, leaving her chicken in our apartment. Well, the chicken became my chicken.
Later I moved into my aunt's house temporarily with my new pet chicken. She lived in a very nice gated community. My aunt's neighbor had a mini chicken coop with like... 5 chickens iirc.
That neighbor took one look at my chicken and just... shook her head saying, "You poor ugly thing." to my chicken.
Then she bragged about how good looking her chickens were. She also made a deliberate comment how people "like my aunt and I" don't know how to choose better chickens?? She called my chicken a "pedigree-less mutt".
#3
I live in a very, very small house. And have a simple lifestyle.
When I started a job in a nearby office, a lady from another department (let's call her Mrs Snob) asked me where I lived.
"Oh, you poor dear!" She says,"Maybe one day you will be able to afford a proper home!"
After this, every time I met her, Mrs Snob would come out with snide little digs at me and how poor and common I am. And how lucky I was to work with "quality" people like her.
I chose to ignore it, though it did rather grind my gears.
Then, one day, we were both having lunch at work. Another colleague asked me if I knew whether "Lord X was doing a local history talk in the near future".
Mrs Snob instantly butted in, "Lord X? He and I are great friends, you know, I could ask him if you like. "
"I don't know," I said, "He usually does them in the warmer months, so he is probably starting them again soon. "
"I can call him tonight to ask!" Mrs Snob says, glaring at me, "Seeing as I actually know him. "
My colleague laughed, and Mrs Snob looked confused.
"What's so funny?" She asks.
"That.." my colleague says, pointing to me, "is his daughter. "
And from then on, Mrs Snob tried to be super nice to me!
Oh, and yes, my dad did know her. He described her as "that snobby cow" :)
They were definitely not "great friends".
#4
To me it's "Oh, you had a c-section? You're not a REAL mom unless you pushed that baby out of you." Like what??
#5
When I first got together with my boyfriend, I was repainting my apartment and he and I went to Home Depot to get paint. His mom was also at Home Depot, surprisingly, so I got to meet her and small talk in the paint section, where she told me that the color of gray I picked out for my walls was a “trashy color of gray”.
#6
I met my now ex-husband's parents a few months after we started dating. They lived several states away, so we stayed at their house for the duration of our trip. They lived in the northeast US, whereas I grew up in the midwest.
At dinner one night, I got myself a paper towel for my hands, not noticing that there were paper napkins on the table. His mother offered me a napkin, and I showed her that I had already grabbed the paper towel. She looked at me at me and said, "Oh, I guess some people were just raised differently."
What? Anyway, my kids and I still randomly use this phrase and laugh about the absurdity of it!
#7
I had a friend that lived in a trailer park. Her next door neighbors wouldn’t talk to her because she lived in a single-wide trailer. They lived in a double-wide trailer.
#8
My mother-in-law is of the opinion that all walls must have wallpaper, because paint is for poor people.
She has also been extremely disappointed in me because I don't own a gravy boat or a cream ladle.
#9
The "oh, *I* don't watch TV" people come to mind.
Daisydaisy 1 hour ago
I feel like everyone looks down on me because I don't watch TV - I am missing out on the shared popular entertainment or information. But I am an odd sort of person and I find noise hard to tolerate and don't have the patience to sit and look at a screen. What I do love (apart from Bored Panda!) is to read books, which I do a lot. Please don't sneer at people who don't watch TV - we might be a bit different but still love to talk about stuff with you!
#10
Someone was trying to set up a puppy playdate at the local dog park for CORGI PUPPIES ONLY. No other breed, no hybrids please.
Man, people JUMPED on him but he still didn’t get how it sounded so elitist.
#11
A friend always has to one up whatever level of spice I choose, and claim that mine isn't spicy enough for her through swollen lips while blowing her nose between every bite. Not really sure what point she's trying to prove. Personally I tend to not order the absolute maximum level of spice I can swallow, because, you know, I actually like being able to taste my food.
#12
I had a coworker who refused to use a library, because “other people have read those books”. Like, it was somehow gross to touch a book that someone else had checked out and read.
#13
I know people who rent or bought a place with a dishwasher and who proudly proclaim “Oh, I only wash dishes by hand!” Dude, there’s nothing noble about washing dishes by hand. The machine does a better job, and you could even be using the saved time to do something productive for society, if you were so inclined.
StrangeOne 1 hour ago
I would ask them if they're just as glad to own a laundry washer but always wash their clothes by hand.
#14
When I had first bought my current house, my neighbours on the one side were this elderly couple. He was lovely & she was gossipy, opinionated & bossy & yet she could often be this way in such a fashion that not only did you not see it coming, you might not realize she had stuck the knife in & twisted it until after you walked away. She had a gift!
She would get in her bedroom window & criticize where I put my garden statues or plants & demand that I move them to places of her choosing, -so she could see them better from her window.
One day after purchasing some rather expensive, decorative, ornamental, garden lights,she says to me,” I see you got some new lights for your garden.” “Yes, I am so happy as I’ve wanted them for so long , found them on sale & knew I had to get them.” Here I am thinking that she will want me to move them so she can get a better view of them from her window & she hits me with one of her zingers. “ Well, they are pretty & suit your garden, Rick & I thought about buying some, but now that we’ve seen them we’ve decided that they’re just too tacky.”SHA-POW!
They have long since moved away, however, every time I bring my “tacky” lights out for the season, I chuckle & think of Ethel.
#15
My friend got a PhD at the same time I got my BA and my parents and grandfather hosted a graduation party to which PhD friend and his mother were invited.
At this party (at my grandfather’s house, he lived in the university city) I met PhD friend’s mother for the first time and I mentioned that we were all very proud of friend.
“*You’re* proud of friend?!” she sneered at me, with an air of absolute contempt. It took me a moment to understand that she thought I, a mere friend, didn’t have the right to be proud of PhD friend’s achievement. That was reserved for her, the family member.
Chich the witch 16 minutes ago
I have a phd in the shed. Post hole digger, used it for putting up my fence.
#16
My mother kept a meticulous house. Once when we had visited with one of my aunts (a SIL to my mom), my mother with disdain informed me that my aunt had a "cleaning lady" like it was the most shameful thing any woman could do!
#17
Back around 2000-2004, I did a lot of paintings/illustrations and even sold a lot of them on ebay. At the time I was in my 20s. I had a couple people say things like, "Oh, my 6 year old loves to draw, too." when they found this out about me.
Stephanie Did It 1 hour ago
This reminds me of a gift I received for my first wedding. I was a teen aged bride, and the family was not happy but grudgingly supportive. One set of grandparents gave me a set of dishes with an awful scrawled flower motif, incredibly ugly, because "they reminded us of the pictures you drew as a toddler." I hated those dishes!
#19
One of my husband’s cousins poured out the hot chocolate I made for her. According to her it wasn’t “real” because it wasn’t *Swiss Miss*.
#20
When I was pregnant and so many people told me about their daughter or friend’s cousin etc who was also pregnant but was tiny and you could barely tell she was pregnant. I don’t know why the size of baby bumps is such a captivating topic! I’m growing a human y’all, there’s gonna be some signs, and that’s the least of my concerns.
#21
I think it's weird when people are verbally mean about small dogs. I had a pomchi, aggressive little guy but he was making great progress. Loved him. My parents felt inclined to call him a rat dog, useless, blah blah blah.my mom called him a rat dog in a group chat and I told her not to because it's rude. I don't go around saying the rottie is a baby killer. I didn't get very long with him, lost him to parvo. It just makes me sad that for the short time they knew him they called him names. Rip Chauncey I miss you. The last walk we went on before he got sick he didn't bark at anybody and I was so proud.
#22
I sent a pic of my new bedroom to a friend bc she asked to see it. “No sheets on your bed?” I had just moved in and was getting everything set up. She brought up me having no sheets on my bed for a long time after. That was weird. We aren’t friends anymore for multiple reasons but I still sometimes hear “No sheets on the bed?” in my head haha.
#23
I was 8 miles in on a strenuous part of the AT in my preferred hiking sandals. They're made for hiking, they're insanely grippy, and I can just careen through streams and other water crossings like it's nothing. I love them, and they're great for temperate rainforests like where I live. An AT thru-hiker stopped me and asked 'are you seriously hiking in sandals? Gross. Can you even hike in those?' I just stopped and looked around. Girl, I am in the exact same place you are. I don't get it.
#24
The strangest snobbery I see is people being proud of being ignorant.
This can vary from making fun of people for doing well in school or for going to college - to being proud of not knowing anyone who likes a popular show, musician, etc.
Child of the Stars 1 hour ago
It is odd, isn't it? I rarely care for the super popular stuff, but it doesn't bother me that others do.
#25
Door County WI. lol.
For real, my husband and I are fairly well off and we were staying in a hotel. This couple seemed nice enough at first. However, we didn’t own a lake island (no freaking joke) and this guy was like “you don’t know what you’re missing out on”
Yeah ok, I’ll go casually buy an island. Thanks man.
It was such a weird thing to be snobby about.
#26
Snobs in any of my hobbies is always strange. Like, aren't we here to have genuine fun? I think the weirdest was when I tried to get into telescopes. I was on a budget (especially as a college student) and I said I wouldn't mind a few quirks in my first telescope. Was swiftly told "no, you do mind, buy an expensive one". Sigh.
Chich the witch 1 minute ago
TBF, many cheap scopes have the name "hobby killer" for a very good reason.
#27
My step grandmother was kinda horrible.
I'm not even sure it's snobbery or her just being a B. No one in my family liked her, except my grandfather.
Whenever my grandfather and her would take me out for an excursion she was always making little comments about stuff.
At a craft fair, she would say how pretty a crochet blanket was, but how she was sure she could do it better. She did this everywhere she went. Little comments that what others did or had wasn't up to her standards.
She was one of those people who has their entire house covered in plastic. Couch, chairs, runners down the hallway.
She once told me to be super careful and not step off the plastic runner in the hallway because it kept her carpet clean. Um am I that dirty?
I looked down and there was maybe an inch of carpet on either side.
My ten year old self really wanted to walk down the hall sideways hugging the wall like I was trying to edge myself along the ledge of a building just so I could step on that inch of exposed carpet.
She was a really snobby hateful person. I know one of her children didn't even like being around her and didn't go to her funeral.
#28
I get that snobbery a lot for some of my choices.
Second hand shopping. I buy just about everything second hand. Saves money, reduces waste and my entire house has a very distinct vintage vibe. Pretty hard to buy “new” vintage. I also make money from it and in the first ten years in my house it paid the mortgage, so I could use my day job to pay off student loans and a car loan.
Still got a lot of the ick reaction from people who would never consider used things.
Along the same lines. My house is a colourful eclectic zone without anything truly matching or what most would consider mainstream. I’m also in my 40’s so I sometimes get the reaction of its a fun vibe but not the expected adult neutral staged look most people seem to aspire to.
Again to each their own. I love it and never judge other people’s homes but unfortunately I don’t always get that back.
I also don’t use social media outside of Reddit or drink (never have) So many people have such strong reactions to those two things alone. It’s absolutely nuts have passionate people get about your life choices that have absolutely no bearing on their life.
Child of the Stars 1 hour ago
When some friends of my parents were having their first baby, I still had quite a few baby clothes, toys, and books my oldest had outgrown. I offered them to the parents, and the wife laughed and said, "Oh no, we're getting everything brand new!" I don't get it. The baby's just going to outgrow it in a week anyway; except for a car seat (for safety reasons) and maybe a crib (also for safety reasons depending on how old it is), most baby stuff doesn't get used long enough to justify brand new.
#29
My husband’s brother’s wife (my SIL) loves to tell me how SHE “got the pick of the litter.” Um, ok? Obviously I disagree but I just stare at her blankly every time. She still hasn’t gotten the hint so maybe next time I’ll respond, “I’m surprised you feel comfortable saying that out loud to me.” The brother is a lovely human who married a miserable woman.
#30
I have narcissistic middle class conservative white Southern parents. Ask me what I haven't been snubbed over, lol.
Maybe the time they gave me c**p about eating sushi. Yes, generally considered a fancier dish to some people, but to them eating something raw is disgusting. They will burn their burgers. I got the evil eye that entire meal.
#31
The strangest snobbery I encountered was someone commenting about another person saying that he probably buys his socks in threes. I didn't realise you needed to buy individual sock pairs or you were as common as muck apparently.
#32
I'm bilingual. Spanish is my mother tongue. I was born in Argentina and hold Italian citizenship, from my Italian great grandparents. I currently live in the UK.
I was in Valencia, Spain, last December. At the airport, I handed my Italian passport to the woman at the airline desk, and she asked me, in Italian, how many pieces of luggage I was checking in. I replied in Spanish (I did understand the question, Italian and Spanish are similar after all) and she replied in Italian "what, you don't speak Italian?" while waving my Italian passport at me and shaking her head. You know.. the Spanish woman I was speaking Spanish to
I was explaining what happened to my British husband, who was there but kind of missed what happened. Basically, I was language shamed 😄.
#33
My sister makes a career out of being a snob (I don't talk to her anymore). She was talking about watching a movie in the theater with her friends. When the love scene came on, she got emotional and cried. She looked over at her friends, who were dry-eyed. She said "I'm not going to a movie with them ever again." Because she was superior to them, you know. I saw the same movie and didn't cry, either. The love scene really wasn't that romantic IMO.
#34
My mom is snobby about 2 things: Heinz ketchup and aluminum foil. She keeps her own name brand foil in her car, just in case. It's because she doesn't like when people tear it "wrong" or when it gets crinkled up in the container. She will not use anything different than Heinz ketchup.
Those are her demands and will always make time to criticize foil or ketchup.
#35
When I was learning to knit colorwork (notoriously difficult to get the tension correct), I did it inside out. That way, I could see what needed to happen and how to do it.
This elder knitter said I was a CHEATER! That I was cheating at knitting, in front of a class of beginning colorwork knitters!
Knitter hazing. LOL, WTH??
#36
I’m gen X, and was over at the house of a friend, gen Z, helping her with cooking prior to the delivery of her 3rd child. She had a few other friends over that were her age too. One of them commented on her Mrs. Meyer’s hand soap container. You know Mrs Meyer’s has blah blah blah in it, right? She responds, oh yes, we won’t use it anymore because of that. I just keep the container and refill it with blah, blah, blah, to which the other person nodded in agreement.
Y’all…it’s hand soap.
#37
I once went to a posh glass shop and asked for a set of glasses from a brand called d'Arque. The gentleman who served me gave me a withering look when i mis-pronounced the name, then sarcastically corrected me, followed by an even more sarcastic "we don't do that brand Sir"
Ouch.
#38
When I was in England a woman asked me where my accent was from and I explained I'm Australian.
She replied, "Well none of us can help where we are born dear".
Ouch and ouch again..😁.
#39
San Francisco farmers market, working booth for mushroom stand, the gourmet variety.
Man approaches and is helped by my now ex wife, who is born and raised in France. He said is making a meal and is looking for a mushroom that pairs. She asks what he’s making. With his nose up high replied, “ you probably wouldn’t know what it is!”
Feisty as she is, she essentially is like, try me.
He replies all high and mighty, “Coq au vin”, rooster in wine basically. But says it incorrectly. My ex puts on her thickest French accent and corrects his pronunciation and explains that her family made it basically every year for the 16+ years she lived in France and then recommended a mushroom.
He was mortified, he went pale, bought the mushrooms and left a generous tip. Never saw him again!
#40
I am used to car snobbery. At least if I was driving a junker around I could understand it better. I managed to purchase a nearly pristine condition 25 year old Lexus. It had only 20k miles on it. The condition was incredible with nothing but some miner wear on the leather seats, otherwise perfect. The gal I was dating refused to be seen in the car simply because it was old. Really? A perfect condition 25 year old car is embarrassing? OK, pretty shallow but whatever.
#41
My MIL told me one of the flowers (pink tulips—in a bouquet with white and pink roses and greenery for a spring wedding) I chose for my wedding bouquet would be ugly. I was only telling her so she could chose her corsage in context. She chose a color and flower (purple orchids) that were not in any of the other wedding flowers.
#42
Snobbery is awful here in the UK and anything will be seen as lower class if you put your mind to it! The most unusual thing I’ve seen is window snobbery - some people here see plastic window frames as tacky.
#43
When I was in college, we got assigned partners for a project. The girl I was supposed to be paired with refused to work with me because I was a “GDI” which I later learned stood for God dammed independent meaning I wasn’t part of a fraternity.
#44
A neighbor asked my boyfriends mother, "why can't your son find a white girlfriend?"
She had no reservations at asking, not thinking at all, how rude it was.
#45
I was in a cigar/tobacco shop in a college town. It was not a “smoke shop” but a proper cigars and pipe tobacco only shop.
I was waiting to be helped while a group of 3 college aged kids were asking the man behind the counter, “what’s the difference between these two tobaccos?”
To which the man behind the counter responded with a tight lipped smile, “now how would you describe the difference between the delicate flavors of a T-Bone steak and a buttered lobster tail to say…an Amazonian wild person?”
The translation of this being: how the f**k can I explain the difference between two things that you could never understand?
I did not come back to that place again.
#46
There was this woman who stopped our family from leaving a restaurant, who insisted on asking my mother, "What do you DO in my fair city?... But what do you *do?*"
I don't remember the entire back and forth that happened in that conversation, but it closed with my mom informing her that we had to leave so she could bury her brother.
"Oh, you have fun with that!"
And that's on Small Town, USA.
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