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> In some countries I had to make a conscious effort to try to wear clothes from acceptable brands and swap my functional laptop bag for something more stylish
by elzbardico 6mo ago
> In some countries I had to make a conscious effort to try to wear clothes from acceptable brands and swap my functional laptop bag for something more stylish to avoid letting my purchasing habits become a point of judgment from others.
It is kind of fascinating, having come from such a culture, to realize that in the end, Americans, at least the average of the America I met, are not nearly brand conscious as I and everyone in my place supposed them to be.
Of course, America is a fucking giant and diverse place, and I think that even native born Americans have no fucking idea of how many different Americas exist, so, take my views of America with a giant grain of salt.
- Terr_ 6mo ago> It is kind of fascinating, having come from such a culture, to realize that in the end, Americans, at least the average of the America I met, are not nearly brand conscious as I and everyone in my place supposed them to be. Speaking as an American with a formative decade overseas, I think some of that may come from the economics of international trade. People think about a faraway place based on what gets transported and sold from there. If a country's most-visible exports are gourmet food, you'd start thinking that perhaps the average resident is a gourmand. In the case of the US, those "cultural exports" often involve branded goods, copyrighted media, food franchises, etc.
- variaga 6mo agoNit: a gourmand is the opposite of a gourmet
- ishouldstayaway 6mo agoHow so?
- defrost 6mo agoQuantity. The original usage of Gourmand was synonymous with gluttony and excess; while a gourmet might be satisfied with exquisitely prepared micro portions tucked away within an expansive plate criss crossed by a drizzle of ??, a gourmand wants the full stack pyramided to the maximal stope angle.
- ishouldstayaway 6mo ago2: one who is heartily interested in good food and drink https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gourmand https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gourmand Been a long time since it was purely about quantity.
- defrost 6mo agoWell, you had to go to #2 of several definitions in an American English dictionary for that secondary devolved meaning. Additionally, "heartily interested" in English usage implies an enthusiastic excess, large amounts, etc. Still, it appears we agree about the original and primary usage. As does your link via #1 You're doing okay on stope angle I'm guessing.
- deleted 6mo ago[deleted]
- huimang 6mo ago"Going to definition #2" is an arbitrary rule that you just made up. Same with an American dictionary vs British or whatever. The Oxford dictionary also has both definitions, with the general use going back to 1758. > 2.1758–One who is fond of delicate fare; a judge of good eating. (Cf. gourmet n.) [0]: https://www.oed.com/dictionary/gourmand_adj?tab=meaning_and_use https://www.oed.com/dictionary/gourmand_adj?tab=meaning_and_...
- defrost 6mo ago> an arbitrary rule that you just made up. No, it's an observation that the first primary usage seemed to disagree (not that it did) and so it was observed that the second alt was used by the commenter above OED has a lot to say about gourmand, Chesterfield in his 1758 letter that you quoted was saying that the Landgrave has a well stocked table .. good food and a lot of it, for he is a Gourmand. Following that Chesterfield example is a 1816 Coleridge extract from Statesman's Man that also about having a lot (but with no talent for preparation) - excess over taste: Their best cooks have no more idea of dressing a turtle than the gourmands themselves And, again, the first 1a primary most common usage cited in the OED is: 1. a. One who is over-fond of eating, one who eats greedily or to excess, a glutton. It's a usage that has morphed in recent times, sure .. but as seen in the OED for a great deal of time the emphasis has always been on the quantity of good food rather than mere quality of good food.
- huimang 6mo agoNit of the nit: there are multiple usages and one of them is > One who is fond of delicate fare; a judge of good eating. (Cf. gourmet n.) https://www.oed.com/dictionary/gourmand_adj?tab=meaning_and_use https://www.oed.com/dictionary/gourmand_adj?tab=meaning_and_...
- antihipocrat 6mo agoThe brand that's 'Australian for beer' is very difficult to find in its domestic market!
- naruhodo 6mo agoThat brand was in fact created for the American market, I recall. Australians also don't talk about "throwing another shrimp on the barbie". That's another Americanism. We call them prawns.
- PaulDavisThe1st 6mo ago> Of course, America is a fucking giant and diverse place, and I think that even native born Americans have no fucking idea of how many different Americas exist, so, take my views of America with a giant grain of salt. And yet somehow, with first 3/4 of this sentence, you've given a more accurate story about America than is almost ever provided!
- aliasxneo 6mo agoI mean there's probably some correlation between arriving at this conclusion and the fact that most Americans establishing any sort of presence outside the US are probably influencers who are being bought to wear product. Hasan, for example, has a pretty decent user base outside the US, and literally wears nothing but designer clothing (which I always found comically ironic, given his political views). I had a recent conversation with a colleague out of SE Asia and it was surprising to me how little access they have to a diversity of product. For example, I was describing my homelab which uses a lot of Minisforum hardware (mostly due to size constraints) and I found out that, despite literally being geographically closer, said product could not be purchased in their country. So I would imagine that leads to more homogenization than what might occur in the States. But that's just my ignorant conjecture.
- TulliusCicero 6mo ago> Of course, America is a fucking giant and diverse place, and I think that even native born Americans have no fucking idea of how many different Americas exist, so, take my views of America with a giant grain of salt. I've been around a good amount of the US and yeah, being very judgey on brands just doesn't seem to be much of a thing. Maybe if I hung around rich people it'd be different, but I do know some rich people and they typically don't seem to give a shit either.
- HDThoreaun 6mo ago> Maybe if I hung around rich people it'd be different Most rich people I know not only dont give a shit a brands, they actively judge you negatively for buying expensive brands that they see as non-utilitarian. Not even a tech thing either, maybe it's because chicago has a generally blue collar vibe and it would be different with rich people on the coasts, but I know many rich people and almost all of them judge for wasting money and buying into advertising psyops
- dpkirchner 6mo agoNot only are we not all brand conscious, some of us are so brand-blind that we buy clothes with large ads printed all over.
- luotuoshangdui 6mo agoWell, other countries are diverse too. What Aurornis experiences is just a tiny fraction of other countries.
- zanderz 6mo agoAnd yet, Thorsten Veblen was American. Have we mellowed out since his observations about "veblen goods"? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good