I Guess That Makes Me Cool, Too
What’s the difference between good taste and common taste?
People often compliment others on what good taste they have, but really what does that mean, beyond a knack for picking a crowd-pleaser?
Think about it. If you have “good taste”, it means you’re able to select what most people would appreciate. Wine, shoes, clothes, partners, books, movies, music, furniture—you name it.
Nobody’s going to say you have good taste on picking that jarringly fuchsia couch. Or that crazy music. Or that boyfriend with his eyes just a little too far apart.
But is it bad taste or just…uncommon?
Ironically, telling someone they have “common” taste often carries the opposite, negative connotation, as if it were too pedestrian, too unsophisticated.
But most of all, when people tell you you have good taste, it really just means they have it, because it’s a sneaky affirmation to let you know that your choice matches up to their standards.
Side note: This post marks the upgrade of my blog from Wordpress 1.5 to 2.6.3. I understand most of the Intarweb has upgraded, but my crippling fear of breaking my blog prevented this upgrade til now. But I am very pleased to say it took me all of 20 minutes and my, my, isn’t it prettier on the backend! Oh, not much difference for you readers, though.
i usually don’t say anything about taste unless it’s odd. Like oh, that person has “interesting taste”
lol
oh and um were your borders of your blog *you know the parts where there are no writing*…were they purple before???????
No, but thank you for:
a) RSSing my blog finally, since you commented within 5 minutes of my posting this.
b) noticing the purple borders — I just changed them to mark the subtle upgrade of my blog engine.
Do you likey? If so, YOU HAVE GREAT TASTE lol.
1.5? You haven’t upgraded since 1.5? Wow. Ahahhahaha…
You should upgrade to 2.7 when it’s out of beta… Which might take like a year or more cos it isn’t even IN beta yet. XD
anyway.. purple isn’t really my thing.. no.. ><
well I wouldn’t classify it strictly like that because I only tell people they have good taste when they aren’t doing a carbon copy (of whatever it is) and the outcome looks great!
you know the scary thing IS THAT I DID NOT RSS YOUR BLOG.
i am just linked to you in a very special, psychic way.
BFF4EVA w00t
………
yeah.
hi Vic…i don’t RSS nuthin’. all this Interwebs stuff confuserates me.
what surprises me is, jaded as i am, i find stuff ALL the time that suits my taste. what other ppl think of my taste…i guess i stopped caring awhile back. told ya i was jaded.
is WordPress da bomb? been hearing a lot of positive feedback, i really shd change my blog over from LJ and start doing it properly. dig the purple, although really it’s got so much red in it it’s more of a maroon, methinks.
s
IMO when people say “my you have good taste,” it is meant as a compliment to you and the statement being made is “you like the things that I like.” I feel good taste doesn’t necessarily have to mean common or uncommon. The times I tell someone they have good taste is often in a situation where I find out that the other person shares an esoteric affinity towards something that most people tend not to like. A good example of this would be when I found out a good friend of mine was reading a book called “the physics of billiards,” at the same time I was to get better at a game we both love. I told that friend he had great taste in reading material haha IM A NERD YES I KNOW, but it was the first example that came to mind.
I totally agree that when “good Taste” is used in reference to something common, the person giving the compliment can easily be labeled as a crowd-pleaser. IMO it is more flattering and sincere to be told you have “good taste” if the comment is made because you like something uncommon and obscure.
Matty IMO the word IMO is very overused in your post, byt that is just IMO.