class prostheses

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
the simple difference is that the status symbol is had to stand out and the class prostheses to fit in
thus the age-old contempt of old blood/money for noveau-riche displays of conspicuous wealth

i.e. Satyricon's Trimalchio (whence Gatsby) symbolizing the Roman patrician contempt of wealthy freedmen

early and late Jay-Z is a perfect example

Gatsby's arc also works, his failure essentially being a mistaking of wealth with class markers

what he really needed was the Roaring Twenties equivalent of Grammarly
 
Last edited:

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
actually there's probably something in the idea that class protheses have fairly recently become much easier to acquire

like it used to take generations to acquire that kind respectability

using your family's wealth as a bargaining chip to marry into society, etc

now there are just apps for it
 

linebaugh

Well-known member
I've said it before but code switching has supplanted the class aspirations it once stood in service to. The idealized upper class professional is a Hemingway- types the traders jargon with callused fingers and can take you to the local color off the clock. Getting too rigidly embedded in any class is to be avoided and having the ability to sample from each distinct class is to be celebrated a la Bad and Boujee.
 

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
Bad and Boujee is an interesting moment here because its a celebration of status symbols as clunky, ineffective class prostheses.

Heard Bougee quite a bit your side of the pond. Always perjorative. “That asshole at x is renting a boat for the bay during summer, what a boujee douche and his wife with the false tits..... “
 

beiser

Well-known member
The first place I heard someone saying "bougie" out loud—2013—was with a sense of ironic lionization, on an ivy league campus.
 

sus

Well-known member
thus the age-old contempt of old blood/money for noveau-riche displays of conspicuous wealth

i.e. Satyricon's Trimalchio (whence Gatsby) symbolizing the Roman patrician contempt of wealthy freedmen

early and late Jay-Z is a perfect example

Gatsby's arc also works, his failure essentially being a mistaking of wealth with class markers

what he really needed was the Roaring Twenties equivalent of Grammarly

This is all a real and good distinction; Paul Fussell covers it well in his book on American class; but I'm still not sure I buy that it's the difference between a status symbol and a class prosthetic as @Linebaugh claims
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Whatever happened to the R in 'bourgeois' as it got shortened to 'bougie'? That's what I want to know. And does it simply rhyme with 'boogie'?

Great opportunity for some puns there - Blame it on the Bougie (article about gentrification in the disco era), Bougie Nights (the home-made porn craze among the middle classes), etc.

So Marxist parents tell their kids to behave or the Bougie-man will get them?
 

luka

Well-known member
Whatever happened to the R in 'bourgeois' as it got shortened to 'bougie'? That's what I want to know. And does it simply rhyme with 'boogie'?

Great opportunity for some puns there - Blame it on the Bougie (article about gentrification in the disco era), Bougie Nights (the home-made porn craze among the middle classes), etc.

So Marxist parents tell their kids to behave or the Bougie-man will get them?
Whatever happened to the R in 'bourgeois' as it got shortened to 'bougie'? That's what I want to know. And does it simply rhyme with 'boogie'?

Great opportunity for some puns there - Blame it on the Bougie (article about gentrification in the disco era), Bougie Nights (the home-made porn craze among the middle classes), etc.

So Marxist parents tell their kids to behave or the Bougie-man will get them?

This should answer your question
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
This should answer your question
Not the kind of hip-hop I particularly like, but it's a good video. I like the elegant laydeeez eating KFC and drinking champagne.

Is that a Marilyn Manson T-shirt on the dude with red hair?!
 

woops

is not like other people
fast food itself has become a weird class marker in a way i don't quite understand - wasn't there some big kanye party or something like that were the crowd was jay-z and co dressed to the nines and eating mcdonald's as if in homage to trump or something? can anyone explain this?
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
fast food itself has become a weird class marker in a way i don't quite understand - wasn't there some big kanye party or something like that were the crowd was jay-z and co dressed to the nines and eating mcdonald's as if in homage to trump or something? can anyone explain this?
Aren't the names 'Kanye' and 'Trump' all the explanation you need?
 

luka

Well-known member
this is not quite the same thing but it makes me laugh-despair-scoff youtube recommend me videos like this

COMPLEX CHARACTER
 

luka

Well-known member
I havent watched it. but the title makes it a good example of 'that kind of thing'. explaining stuff that doesnt need to be explained. treating stuff which is on the surface and obvious and telegraphed and driven home as if it were densely encrypted subtext. its like labouriously explaining a simple joke like it was a complex maths equation.
 

version

Well-known member
I've noticed that a lot with villains. You get clips of The Joker or Patrick Bateman with these clunky explanations of the character that people think are really insightful and impressive. Stuff like,

"The thing you have to understand about The Joker is he is pure chaos. He has no regard for rules or society. This is what makes him so dangerous. He's a sick, sadistic psycho who will stop at nothing and could turn on you at any moment. The other gangsters fear him because he cannot be controlled. He is a force of nature and Batman's greatest enemy."

With a bunch of responses like,

"Nailed it."

"Bruh. This is why Joker's my fav. villain of all time. He's just so twisted."
 
Top