Very embarrassed yesterday in the LV boutique

[Poufiasse]

I call people like that "nouveau riche" and they are everywhere. Such a shame. Unfortunately money does not buy class.

I could not have said it any better!

 

[Smith]

Ugh. I'm 21 & see this all the time. It's really embarrasing. Unfortunatly it's not reserved for the younger set i've seen really tacky adults be unbelievably classless.

Well said.

 

[louislover]

Hmmm ya, I understand. I'm 19 (and very polite in my own humble opinion lol) and I've been to public and private schools... What I can say is that kids from both groups act the same with the only exception that those from private schools are even harder to deal with cuz their parents are massively rich, thus these kids are spoiled rotten and have no manners. You'd think that being rich is all about...iono...like training the kid's to play piano or do some classy stuff, but none of them are like that. All I can say is that this thread reminds me of one person in the world: PARIS HILTON! lol

I COULDN'T agree with you more - this girl was TOTALLY Paris!

 

[sweetlove]

I know what you mean,

I remember being with my group of friends who came with me to LV and then walked in these younger people who unlike your story didn't look like they had taste or Money and had horrible manners...the one thing that I remeber was her picking up a mulitcolor pump and yelling in the loudest most ugly sounding voice:

"This should be five dollars!!

everyone looked at them and it was gross to be in the ame age bracket..

Sounds like that person actually wanted those shoes, but couldn't afford them and therefore tried to pretend not to like them.. I feel kinda sorry about those people, but still..

 

[Ammietwist]

I said that it meant they'd done something to get their money, and inherited doesn't fall in that category. The number of big lottery winners also isn't long. Usually the term refers to people that are new to money and made it themselves. I've worked retail, and the worst customers were the ones with the "old" money. They had the biggest sense of self entitlement I've ever seen.

but the "nouveau riche" people could also just have inherited some money/business from somewhere or won in the lottery... you never know, it doesn't really matter where you get your money from as long as you are a nice person to those who deserve it...

 

[Ammietwist]

"Nouveau riche" isn't just a term to designate new vs. old money, it is also used as an insult by the "old" money group to indicate that someone just doesn't have their breeding/history/class. It's a good or a bad thing depending on your attitude, and I view it as a huge positive. To get in that position, someone had to deliver a good or service that people wanted, and they did it themselves. They're not collecting a check from a trust fund because of what Great Grandpa did decades ago. Nice that he did it, but as a lot of rich kids have discovered, what do THEY do?

The expression "nouveau riche" is not meant to say that old money is better than new money (in answer to a poster who said she would take "nouveau riche" as a compliment)
It describes the way some people who suddendly find themselves rich, want to show off their new money, sometimes in an ill-advised manner.

So you can have worked hard for your money, be a "new rich", but not "nouveau riche"... It's a matter of attitude... lol I'm sure I haven't made myself clear I just wanted to explain this expression.