Aliya Naseer Farooq
‘All men are snobs about something.’ Aldous Huxley wrote in his essay, “Selected Snobberies’ and I agree wholeheartedly. Only to add that all men and women are snobs. It is, after all, the age of gender appropriation and such an addition is in order. ‘Snob’ is defined as a person with an exaggerated respect for high social position or wealth. One who seeks to associate with social superiors and looks down on those regarded as socially inferior or a person who believes that their tastes in a particular area are superior to those of other people.
Well, snob is an insult – so you can’t use it as a term of endearment, don’t even try,
‘Oh, you are such a snob, cutie pie! Ummm, nooo. Snobs exist and they know who they are. Henceforth, they must put a cover on their snobbishness. Let me say our snobberies. For Huxley says we are all snobs. The catch is in the words ‘about something’. Now that is where it gets tricky. Language, a dear friend, will always come to the rescue. Words have been coined to do just that, cover up. Synonyms for snob range from aristocratic, elitist, high-hat, persnickety, ritzy, aloof, arrogant, imperious, lordly, pretentious and of course, superior.
Choose a word according to the situation. If you are a desperate drudge working 9 to 5 in a dreary dungeon with zero chances of being appreciated, promoted or even acknowledged then I strongly recommend not using any of the above synonyms. I mean, c’mon, you need the job.
Living in the real world, we all come across ‘snobs’ of one sort or another. Snooty, uppity, hoity – toity, la – di – da…I could go on endlessly as these words have circulated in my mind so many times at so many occasions. They would swirl round and round in my in my head like suds in the washing machine. Unable to use any of these, I would resort to the inane grimace of a smile reserved for occasions like these. Pretentious relatives, condescending colleagues, elitist bosses and even friends. They come in all forms and shapes. Packaging is varied but the product remains the same. Some snobs will camouflage their propensity to look down upon others in a perfectionist – apologetic stance. Let me expand. ‘S’ being the snob and ‘M’ being me or any other random person walking in my shoes, that is the shoes of a regular person who keeps his nose in his own business and finds all other noses there to be obtrusive and counterproductive.
‘S’: ‘ I wish I was not like this. I mean why do I always see these mistakes in your work? Why can’t I be like you all and just skim over stuff? Why oh why…?! ‘
‘M’: ( Of course there is nothing to say when you are the perpetrator of all those pesky little mistakes and the fact that ‘S’ has no intention whatsoever of being like you or anyone like you is very clear.)
So, ‘M’ will just stand there like the big goof he’s being made to feel. He would stand in the high and mighty shadow of ‘S’ – who is here pretending to be a perfectionist while hiding the inner snob and having quite a ball. ‘M’ will, however, have that inane grimace of a smile reserved for occasions like these.
In Huxley’s essay, he outlines few of the selected snobberies and propounds on the circumambulating routes that snobs take towards their preferred snobberies. Be it art, disease, travel, modernity to name a few. The underlying pivot on which most snobberies rest is the desire to appear superior. To be one up, look down upon or feel better than the next person.
In our society a few of such snobberies are most evident. The race for the ultimate outfit is a fitting example. What would drive hordes of otherwise sane women to a certain brand outlet on the first day of the first volume of the first day of spring, summer, autumn, pre – summer, pre – autumn or pre – whatever collection. The helter skelter, hit and run frenzy of it all. Why and wherefore of it all boils down to looking better and looking better first. Buying the outfit and being the first one to flaunt it. There are horror stories of this kind of first cut, first take approach. Hair raising accounts of ladies going through denizens of the same gender, snatching the selected item from the harassed salesperson, scratching and bruising in the process. Having bought the item, proceed to the vehicle and order the driver to take out the pail of water already placed in the car boot to soak, spin and shrink the cloth on the spot. Which is then handed over to the master saab who is going to stitch it for baji to wear it to the kitty party that evening. To the awestruck gaping admiration of the audience therein.
Designers, make – up artists, brands, exotic travel destinations, your pictures on insta and fb, there are so many layers to this one up syndrome. It takes the form of body shaming or could be your child’s grades in the war of As and A*s or even the sector you live in. A whole culture that promotes and rewards attitudes of supremacy and demeans lack, dearth or difference is a culture that needs to change. Now!
