Pretentiousness in Austin? (Dallas: buying, school, university)

[hoffdano]

I sincerely hope Austin is never as "good" as Dallas if Dallas is used to define "good."

Dallas is its own thing. It isn't for me and I hope Austin never becomes like it.

[readymade]

For pretentiousness... you really can't beat the east coast. Horrifying (to me because I'm from there and moving back there) but true. People tend to be more stubborn there, too, so good luck trying to change their minds about things. They (we?) have definite ideas about Texans, the south in general, and California.

You should have heard everyone back home when I said I was moving to California (too much sunshine! too many phonies!) and then Texas (everyone's racist, republican, religious, redneck, & wears cowboy hats).

The "liberal east" is really only liberal about certain things. I grew up without prejudice (for the most part) about gays & minorities (my parents were hippies, though, so not everyone had an upbringing like I did). But even I was a bit horrified at myself for moving to Texas. I'm glad I did, though.

[Moonlady]

Originally Posted by readymade

For pretentiousness... you really can't beat the east coast. Horrifying (to me because I'm from there and moving back there) but true. People tend to be more stubborn there, too, so good luck trying to change their minds about things. They (we?) have definite ideas about Texans, the south in general, and California.

You should have heard everyone back home when I said I was moving to California (too much sunshine! too many phonies!) and then Texas (everyone's racist, republican, religious, redneck, & wears cowboy hats).

The "liberal east" is really only liberal about certain things. I grew up without prejudice (for the most part) about gays & minorities (my parents were hippies, though, so not everyone had an upbringing like I did). But even I was a bit horrified at myself for moving to Texas. I'm glad I did, though.

Isn't that the truth. I lived in the DC burbs and Florida before moving to Texas at 19. The opinions and attitudes of my family "back East" towards Texans were downright comical. At my little sister's wedding, one of her managers asked me to "say something Texan" for them. Huh - didn't know we had our own language here!

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by hoffdano

I sincerely hope Austin is never as "good" as Dallas if Dallas is used to define "good."

Dallas is its own thing. It isn't for me and I hope Austin never becomes like it.

Absolutely correct! Why do you think in cities like Dallas or Houston, when neighborhoods or places are described as "like Austin" it is always a positive thing -- meaning they are scenic, bohemian, unique, or cool places. Yet when any place in Austin (or any other city for that matter) is described as "like Dallas" or "like Houston", it's always used to describe a negative about the place... such as sprawly, generic, pretentious, etc.

Now I realize those are stereotypical generalizations, and there are nice places in Dallas and sprawly places in Austin... but those perceptions are out there for a reason. Count me in the group that doesn't want Austin to become "good" if Dallas is used to define "good".

[mlassoff]

Originally Posted by Moonlady

Isn't that the truth. I lived in the DC burbs and Florida before moving to Texas at 19. The opinions and attitudes of my family "back East" towards Texans were downright comical. At my little sister's wedding, one of her managers asked me to "say something Texan" for them. Huh - didn't know we had our own language here!

Well that settles it then. Because you're little sisters manager said at a wedding "Say Something Texan," everyone in the northeast is pretentious.

I guess EVERYONE in Texas is anti-semitic because a guy at work said he "Jewed down" a car dealer.

::Rolls Eyes::

I don't find the northeast to be pretentious. I find its more that, culturally, people value their privacy and respect the privacy of others. What appears cold and aloof to some, I think is more just the value of privacy. Believe it or not NE'ers have very close friendships that sometimes last a lifetime-- just like in Texas. However, we aren't warm and inviting to people we don't know-- not out of pretension-- but out of respect for privacy.

Of course this was about pretentiousness in Austin-- not in the NE.

[readymade]

Originally Posted by Moonlady

The opinions and attitudes of my family "back East" towards Texans were downright comical. At my little sister's wedding, one of her managers asked me to "say something Texan" for them. Huh - didn't know we had our own language here!

In all fairness, I've been asked to "Say something Boston" plenty of times. Or people will just say "chowdah!" to me for no apparent reason

And, when someone says "Say something Boston" to me, I oblige by saying something (in my fake Boston accent, since somehow I don't have one) like "So, we went to a wicked pissah pahty in Wistah! Had a couple, two/tree beahs befoah drivin' home and pahkin' my cah ovah theah."

My husband does a killer "sout-side" Chicago accent (he's from there, and ALSO managed to escape the accent) and people make him do that. We have Chicago/Boston offs.

So, I think that really happens everywhere.

[passionatearts]

Originally Posted by + or -

As you may know, I recently transferred to UT from a Dallas university, the city I grew up in. In the five months I've been here, what I've noticed, other than the exaggerated claims of liberalism, is a strong distaste amongst many Austinites in regards to Dallas and a strong degree of conspicuous consumption among many Austinites.

Ironically, the aspect of Dallas life most here seem to despise is the pretentiousness that Dallas (particularly it's northern edge) has become notorious for.

What I find so interesting, and perhaps hypocritical, is that I find Austin has become very pretentious in certain areas, and continues to become more pretentious, according to many Austin natives I've spoken to.

The recent explosion of astronomically-priced apartments and condominiums, chic restaurants, and VIP clubs has definitely given Austin that Dallas/LA feel in many regards. Then, there's the recent uptick in luxury automobiles according to many I've spoken to, as well as generally fashion conscious and fit people, and you can see where I'm going here.

To note, these observations are pretty much confined to downtown, north central Austin, west Austin, and parts of north Austin (Arboretum area). If you want a reality check, go to east Austin, which is still economically disadvantaged, or south Austin, which continues to shun pretentiousness in favor of bohemian artistic expression.

Personally, I don't see anything wrong with any of this, because it means that Austin is growing up and becoming a stronger economic significance in Texas as it continues to attract talent from acros the country.

Clearly Austin is not the city it was twenty, ten, or even five years ago. I think residents, as a whole, need to embrace the changes and understand that conspicuous consumption is a byproduct of a successful economy. That said, I question the baseless attacks on Dallas when Austin is guilty of the very same phenomenon.

What do you think?

I totally agree with everything you said except for the part where you said that "South Austin . . . continues to shun pretentiousness in favor of bohemian artistic expression." If you've been anywhere on South Congress or South Lamar in the last 5 years, you'd see that all sorts of foo foo restaurants and high-end clothing shops (that belong in Dallas or LA) have been sprouting up like crazy.

[sliverbox]

I lived in Boston for a few years. Yes- people there are sort of pretentious. But there were several types of people: New England Yankees, and people who came from old money. When I mean old money, there were TONS of people who just seemed to be rolling in it ( no wonder half of them moved out to Cali) But anyway, this sort of created this big disparity between the working and upper class. Much like Cali there wasn't much of any middle class: You were either rich or you were poor. The difference is that its been like that for a long time versus cali where either they all got there ( usually from the east coast) 10 years ago and thus don't have the same claim to stompin' grounds or they are the newly acquainted rich.

There were a lot of older New Englanders who were just stubborn and cheap. They'd find a way to fix something no matter what. My neighbor had a push mower with 3 wheels. Lord have mercy if he'd ever buy a new one. But he was filthy stinkin' rich.

I dunno. I'm not from there. It did have some nice attributes but I generally disliked living there. The winters alone were enough to make me not want to ever visit in the winter again. We Southerners don't handle the cold so much. That and it was like Cali where it was just too damned expensive.

[austin-steve]

pre⋅ten⋅tious  [pri-ten-shuhs]
–adjective
1. full of pretense or pretension.
2. characterized by assumption of dignity or importance.
3. making an exaggerated outward show; ostentatious.

Does Austin have people who are pretentious? Yes, as does every city.

Is Austin itself so full of pretentious people that the entire city can be declared a pretenious place? Not even close.

If we really wanted to settle the issue, we could decide what sort of things pretentious people purchase en mass and see how they sell in Austin. We could decide what sort of restaurants pretentious people require in order to maintain their status, and determine if enough such restaurants exists. And on and on. It could be quantified and proven false.

Steve

[kingugly]

I actually don't like that nature of many Austinites, to abhor anything outside of the Austin bubble that they don't consider hip or cool. I wish it's denizens embraced more the "live and let live" attitude that is found in many Texas towns and throughout the South. Dallas is what it is, why discuss it? I'd agree that with it's national rise in stature over the last couple of decades, Austin has indeed sprouted many more Sneeches with Stars upon Thars.