This is an All Ears English podcast episode 2429.
Don't be a snob when it comes to English.
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Do you know anyone who is a snob?
Today, find out what this word means and when it can be used in a harmful or harmless way so that you can express your interests and bring more connection into your life.
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Hey there, Michelle.
How are you today? Hey, Lindsay.
I'm good. How are you?
Good. Glad to be back.
Glad to be back. All good.
Michelle, what are we talking about today on the show.
Well, I want to know, Lindsay, did you know anyone who was a snob when you were growing up?
I did, actually. I had a friend.
She was like, I guess, kind of a frenemy a little bit.
A frenemy who lived right down the street.
We were friends, but I also felt like she was kind of snobby at times or kind of bossy sometimes, which are two different words.
They mean two different things.
But yeah, I would say I felt that she was a little bit of a snob.
No, but not not too bad.
Not too bad. But yeah, definitely in school.
I think I think everybody knows people who are snobby.
Yeah, this this is rampant.
And this is this will be an interesting episode today, because it's something that goes across cultures, right?
It goes across the world.
It's a personality characteristic.
So we're going to get into it today.
But this came from a YouTube question, right?
So the question is from Ardalan Bookart 24.
And it just says, Can you talk about the exact meaning of snob and coffee snob?
Thank you so much. So yeah, this is gonna be fun.
So this is a great question.
So coffee snob was discussed on Episode 2391, which was how to connect over our coffee habits in english yeah yeah so yeah definitely listen to that one to hear more about coffee yeah um okay so we're not going so much into coffee snob so very they're they're they're different right coffee snob and snob are very different right okay interesting yes so that's what we're going to talk about so they're they're not the same thing to say you're a something snob or just a snob um so let's just start with regular old snob okay um okay so this is a pretty negative word right i would say so i mean it's
someone generally who's not very nice and that's usually because he or she believes they're better than other people right and it's so funny because it's something we recognize very young as kids and then we we are aware of it throughout life, right?
We meet people, um, they give off this air of thinking they're amazing.
They're too good for certain things.
And it might be if they have money, they might have that attitude, but not necessarily.
There are people who have money that are very humble, right?
True. Uh, or because they're insecure themselves sometimes.
Right. Yeah, that's true.
It can, somebody can seem like a snob, but not actually be a snob.
Um, so we always want to make sure that we kind of give people the benefit of the doubt until we experience like don't judge it based on what they look like um because sometimes people lindsey you were just saying somebody might be shy somebody might there might actually be something else going on totally totally all right what else do we need to know here rochelle all right well but some how does somebody show they're a snob i mean uh well i guess some things you might do is you might criticize others taste based, right?
Like talk down about what they've chosen.
If, I don't know, maybe, well, I don't want to go to the coffee stop to confuse it, but what would be an example of that?
I don't know, clothes, like a shirt, shirt, criticize what somebody is wearing or they, you know?
Yeah. I mean, or again, I don't want to say some people might have this look that they don't like things, so they might just give off this look, like when they see somebody come in, their face kind of changes.
And yeah. But you know, again, we don't know really by a look completely.
But they talk down to others, right?
That could be a snob.
They talk down to others.
They just have a vibe that somehow manipulatively can put people make people feel bad about themselves a little bit if you let them but you don't have to let them right?
Of course. Let's give other examples, Michelle, of how this is used.
So this comes up a lot in school when we're kids, teenagers even or even younger.
I remember the popular girls in high school, they were such snobs.
And I do remember that.
Me too. Or you could say I didn't hear what Angela said and I thought I was being a snob.
Oh, I think she thought.
Sorry. I didn't hear what Angela said and I think she thought I I was being a snob, but I just didn't hear her.
Oh, yeah, that's too bad.
You don't want to go through like years and years of an acquaintance thinking they're snobby, but they're actually just not hearing what you're saying or just, I don't know, they're just in another world in their minds, right?
That can very well happen.
And you miss out on a potential friendship.
True. But you can also use the word snobby, right?
So snob or snobby. So you could say, don't be snobby or don't be a snob.
That means the same thing.
Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
Okay. Now let's flip over to coffee snob, Michelle, because it's pretty different.
Is that so negative?
Like if we go out for coffee and we're ordering and I order a pour over and you say, oh, what's that all about a pour over?
And you say, I say, oh, I'm kind of have a coffee snob, don't worry about it.
It's, you know, is that okay?
Or is that also negative?
I think it really depends on how you use it.
I think generally speaking, it's not right.
I think it's okay. It just means that you have a certain special taste in something.
But you could use it in a self deprecating way, or someone could use it in a negative way.
It just, it just depends on the context, right?
If I, like, let's say you're, you're a coffee snob.
Well, let's say say you're a wine snob okay okay and I say oh I'm gonna invite Lindsay over for you know my wine tasting at my house but I don't know she's a wine snob so maybe it's not gonna be good enough for her right right right right right yeah so that yeah so I think in general our culture applauds when people have unique interests and things right when you know some you love something so so much that you know everything about it but the difference is, do you kind of like judge other people's choices based on what you know or have learned?
Right. That's the key.
Or if let's say you're at someone's house and you're a wine snob and they serve it and if you kind of show your judgment or you're just kind of vocal about it or you make others feel bad about ...
Like not everybody is going to have the same interests that you you do, unless you're in a wine club, you know, that's why you join kind of maybe special, special groups like that, so that you can be with people who have those interests, but not everybody is going to share yours.
Yeah, the hardest thing is gifting wine to a wine snob.
I have a friend, and she's wonderful.
She's lovely. She's a little bit of a wine snob.
But the good thing about her, she's not too judgy.
If we try to gift the best wine we can find, but you still be like, how much can you spend?
Where does it end, Michelle?
But she's sweet, actually.
She'll happily accept any gift, and she'll also share wine.
She'll buy expensive wine, but then she'll invite people over, and let's enjoy it together.
So it's the best kind of wine snob.
Wait, so can you tell the difference when you have a good wine versus a regular one?
Honestly, not really.
I really can't. I mean, I can tell when I when a wine is kind of gone bad, I guess, vinegary and that kind of thing or when it's really low quality.
But the difference between, you know, like a hundred dollar cabernet versus a thousand.
I've never had a thousand dollar cabernet, but I don't think I would be able to tell the difference.
I really don't. Yeah.
Yeah. I don't know.
No. What about you?
No, I have no idea.
No way. All right. So, yeah.
Yeah. Very interesting, Michelle, right?
Yep. Yep. All right.
Let's take a break.
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okay yes we are back michelle what else do we need to know so yeah we were already talking about a blank snob it doesn't have to be just coffee or wine so coffee though is very common but let's talk about some other ones you hear some other common ones so i hear um city snob I might say that about myself, right?
That I, Oh, I mean, now I live in a suburb, but I would say, like, I might say to somebody talking about my move, I might say, Oh man, I'm a city snob.
So it was really hard for me to adjust to the suburbs.
Right. That's not, that's just saying I love the city.
Sure. Sure. Sure. Sure.
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
And that's okay. Again, usually it's okay to reveal this about yourself, because if you're saying it, you're probably already connecting with someone, right?
Or a movie snob. There are a lot of people that are big time movie snobs.
They'll read all the, all the critiques of the movie and very picky about what movie they'll go to.
I'll kind of go to any movie because I like to go to the theater, you know?
That's good. Yeah. No, I'm not a movie snob.
I don't have a high taste.
And I don't know. I like my, give me my father of the bride and I'm set.
I taste Michelle. What are you saying?
Thank you. Thank you.
I appreciate that. Yeah.
Um, or we already mentioned wine snob, beer snob.
Now, Lindsay, I know you like craft beer.
I might fall into this category.
Admittedly. So yeah, you know, I just, I struggle even certain breweries that I go to, if there are not enough dark beers, I'm really into Imperial Porters and Imperial Stouts right now, which are the barrel -aged, like real deep, deep, deep, dark beers.
If they don't have enough of those, I will get snobby even about that brewery.
Yeah, that's me. That's funny.
Or music snob. That's another one.
Do you ever have...
Oh my God, it's so embarrassing when you can tell somebody kind of has a really cool taste in music and then they ask you what kind of music you like and I'm like, I like the Backstreet Boys." Totally.
Totally, totally. There are a lot of music snobs walking around.
There are a lot. And you don't even want to say what you like.
Oh, no. Who can I think of as the coolest musician that I like?
I get stuck with that too sometimes.
And then it could go on and on.
You could be a literature snob.
There's just so much. But it's fun because this means that you're just into a niche, right?
A specific niche that you love something so much that you have become kind of a snob.
But again, it comes back to you.
Do you judge others, right?
Right. Right. So like just to think of a couple other ones.
So fancy hotels, right?
You could say I'm a hotel snob or if you only fly first class, I'm an airplane snob, right?
So many. Um, so sometimes it means you only like the highest quality of that certain thing, but sometimes it might just mean that you know a lot about it you pay attention to it so coffee snob could be either um if it's just if you're talking about not liking something or being judgy about it then you might say you don't like something because you're a snob about that particular topic basically yeah that's so true yeah and i feel like probably most of our listeners are a snob about something but again the good kind of stop right something that you really nerd out on that you really love you've developed
a refined taste for For something.
Oh my God. Is it bad that I can't think about what kind of snob I am?
Like, should I be. I said city snob.
I said city snob. Yeah.
You love New York. I mean, or the big cities.
And you have high standards for cities, right?
Yeah, sure. I like that.
We'll go with that, Michele.
It's okay. Yeah. Okay.
Okay. I feel better.
So in another episode, um, we can talk about different ways to say these things.
So hit follow because there are tons of other ways we can express this.
Yeah, guys. Now just a reminder, again, like we said to hit follow if you love our style, remember everything we're teaching here is modern real English, but it's also coming back to human connection.
It all comes back to connection.
So if that's what you want in your life, speaking English, hit the Follow button and follow us.
All right, awesome.
Let's do our role play.
So we are on a cruise together doing a wine tasting.
interesting. Who's the wine snob here?
Let's see. All right.
All right. Wow. All of these look amazing.
Yeah. I don't know.
They look fine. I'm just a wine snob.
So I have very high expectations.
Oh, boy, Michelle. Oh, no. You can totally tell the sommelier is snobby.
Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's kind of a bummer.
So it's it's a bummer when someone is super excited about something and And then someone else joins and they're like, oh, the choices aren't very good.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
You have to be careful of that, right?
It's true. That's true.
So let's go through it.
So I said I'm just a wine snob, right?
Yeah. So I have very high expectations.
And then the problem there for connection is I'm going to start to think, oh, maybe it's not that exciting.
It's not that great.
It's going to dampen my experience a little bit, potentially, or I'm just going to keep being very excited about the wine choices, right?
Right. Yeah. And then I said, oh, boy, Michelle.
And what am I why what am I saying here?
I'm saying you're basically saying, oh, gosh, you're going to have a terrible experience.
Exactly. I'm just saying, oh, it's too bad that your wine's not because, you know, and then you said, oh, no, you can totally tell the sommelier is snobby.
um so you're just saying the smellier at this wine tasting is snobby but the wines aren't good which is weird because right yeah it's weird something something's not matching up it's not right but anyways so I think the point is connection right here and we'll come back to the takeaway in just a minute but Michelle is there another episode we should check out check out 2419 which was how to connect over mutual interests and that's really great to listen to you with this one because in a way when you call yourself a snob it's a way to show what your interests are and you might end up connecting
with someone totally totally and then you can go do a wine tasting with those people right i mean that's that's how we can find friendships and deepen our connections but i think it's this this term is interesting right so in one way if we're actually just a snob it's it is kind of negative um but if we're more of a niche snob like a movie snob, a coffee snob, that can be okay depending on how we present that fact, right?
Yeah, that's true. So it really depends on the context, if it's kind of a negative thing or not.
But yeah, I think in any case, you're going to hear this out in your conversations.
You can use it. Just be careful, you know, don't call someone a snob unless you're kind of, you know, joking around about a special interest or but I would I would more say it's safer to just use it about yourself when you're starting off yeah I love it good stuff Michelle thanks for being on the show with me today guys hit the follow button for more all ears English alright alright thanks Lindsay have a great day alright bye bye thanks for listening to all ears English would you like like to know your English level, take our two -minute quiz.
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