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There's something so innocently charming about this whole story, the idea of an aristocrat taking his pineapple down the street to impress his peers is ridiculo
by DarthGhandi 6y ago
There's something so innocently charming about this whole story, the idea of an aristocrat taking his pineapple down the street to impress his peers is ridiculously funny.
- ZinniaZirconium 6y agoYou mean like a tech bro marketing his social app and pretending he has a lucrative startup that pays actual money instead of nothing? That kind of ridiculous falsehood to impress peers?
- sverredanger 6y agoHaha, and I thought it was the telltale sign of swingers. https://aftertimeexpires.com/2017/12/04/are-pineapples-a-universal-signal-for-swingers-a-20-minute-google-investigation/ https://aftertimeexpires.com/2017/12/04/are-pineapples-a-uni...
- elliekelly 6y agoIt makes me wonder what the current equivalent “flex” might be.
- dragontamer 6y agoDriving an expensive car with its muffler removed, so that you get +5 HP but also so that everyone in the neighborhood hears, and sees, your expensive car.
- throwaway0a5e 6y agoThat's something teenagers with cheap cars do. Not exactly a flex.
- dragontamer 6y agoWhat makes it a flex is when its a Lambo or something actually expensive.
- throwaway0a5e 6y agoSo then just driving a conspicuously expensive car is the flex then?
- dragontamer 6y agoThe noise is a big part of it. Tweaking the muffler to make the car far louder than normal.
- gruez 6y agoRight, but the sound helps your flex get noticed.
- rcMgD2BwE72F 6y agoThe louder a car is the least efficient it is. I bet the loudest cars will fast be seen as the worst when luxury sport EV will become the norm. I can't wait for the Tesla Roaster 2.0 to be delivered in volume (idem for its motorbike equivalent), so I can finally sleep with open windows.
- dragontamer 6y agohttps://evtuning.com/products/milltek-active-sound-control-sound-generator-for-tesla-model-s https://evtuning.com/products/milltek-active-sound-control-s... Old habits die hard.
- nordsieck 6y ago> I can't wait for the Tesla Roaster 2.0 to be delivered in volume (idem for its motorbike equivalent), so I can finally sleep with open windows. If it's accelerating using cold gas thrusters (SpaceX package) it'll be extremely loud. Thankfully it'll probably only have 1-2 seconds of juice from the air tanks.
- blargmaster33 6y agoTesla
- 082349872349872 6y agoTattersalls is so posh they still report their auction results in guineas instead of GBP. (founded in 1766, so they may have overlapped a bit with the pine apple...)
- thinkingemote 6y agoIn terms of items which you would see associated with satirical depictions of wealth and waste, over sized bottles of champagne spring to mind, truffles and caviar too.
- 082349872349872 6y agoExcept magnum champagne, truffles, and caviar are all available at grocery stores. To be equivalent to a 1700's pineapple, they'd have to be so difficult to acquire via import that growing your own, in an unsuitable climate, would be worthwhile.
- vkou 6y agoCars, watches, boats, houses, jewelry, (expensive outliers of) vacations. All of them have cheaper, equally functional equivalents, but people very conspicuously overpay for more than they need with all of them.
- rsynnott 6y agoExpensive watches are comparable, but really, most luxury goods. Anything unnecessary and scarce and/or labour intensive.
- noir_lord 6y agoPretty much any Veblen[1] good tbh. Cars, watches been the typical examples. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good
- elliekelly 6y agoI guess I was thinking of which flex would be equally absurd to future generations as the pineapple. Expensive goods have always been a “flex” but most expensive goods don’t become so widely available and affordable so quickly. 200 years ago a pineapple would’ve cost $15,000 and today pineapple can be bought by the neediest members of society using food stamps. I don’t think the same will be true of a Rolex in 2220.
- 082349872349872 6y agoLaRoy Tymes hacked a CDC 3600[1] to play computer music[2] and today the neediest members of society have custom ringtones. [1] going for 1,2 M USD in 1963 (a 0,7 MIPS 48-bit machine). Figure at least an order of magnitude more in 2020 USD? [2] p. 6 http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/Oral_History/Tymes_LaRoy/Tymes_LaRoy_1.oral_history.2004.102657988.pdf http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/Oral_Histo... ==== In the nineteenth century, aluminium was more expensive than gold. By the twentieth it would be used for wrapping potluck dishes. === Montaigne was proud of his library, all manner of elites of their realistic portraits, and white sportswear used to imply someone else had to wash the grass stains out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj7J7vXCf5w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj7J7vXCf5w
- munchbunny 6y agoBurning man tickets? Expensive wines/liquors never stopped being a flex of wealth/status. Luxury consumption has become much more diverse, so there isn't something as universal as the pineapple anymore. But if you spend time around it, you can feel it in the air.
- elliekelly 6y agoBurning man tickets is a good one!
- dpoochieni 6y agoGetting the smartphone du jour
- danans 6y agoIt's funny to us now, because we are free from the social signals of that time but for those people it was serious. Also, we have similar signals today. For example, a handmade Swiss watch signals for which you pay for months of a skilled artisan's work, all for something whose ultimate function you could replicate with a $20 watch.