AskMe used to be SO much better at questions like this two years ago!
March 8, 2010 11:46 AM Subscribe
Is there a word, term, or phrase for comments along the lines of "This bar (club, restaurant, event, party, public space, etc) used to be cool, but now it sucks." ?
So... everyone knows someone like this. Someone who, whenever you say "Hey, I really like this bar," will almost invariably say "Yeah, it used to be great. Now it's just a pale shadow of what it once was. Sucks you missed it when it was so awesome." This attitude is everywhere, but epidemic in Williamsburg as well as (I imagine) parts of Oregon - especially those parts that used to be so much better two or three years ago.
The attitude in question is like half nostalgia, half bragging. A friend of mine calls it "Last Man Over The Bridge Syndrome," which captures something of the attitude, but I'd really like a shorter, catchier, and more descriptive term. I'm happy with either established terms or spur-of-the-moment coinages. Hows about it?
(I'll also happily entertain stories of someone you know who does this frequently, even if it's not exactly an "answer," as steps towards more completely elaborating the attitude to which we will eventually affix a name.)
So... everyone knows someone like this. Someone who, whenever you say "Hey, I really like this bar," will almost invariably say "Yeah, it used to be great. Now it's just a pale shadow of what it once was. Sucks you missed it when it was so awesome." This attitude is everywhere, but epidemic in Williamsburg as well as (I imagine) parts of Oregon - especially those parts that used to be so much better two or three years ago.
The attitude in question is like half nostalgia, half bragging. A friend of mine calls it "Last Man Over The Bridge Syndrome," which captures something of the attitude, but I'd really like a shorter, catchier, and more descriptive term. I'm happy with either established terms or spur-of-the-moment coinages. Hows about it?
(I'll also happily entertain stories of someone you know who does this frequently, even if it's not exactly an "answer," as steps towards more completely elaborating the attitude to which we will eventually affix a name.)
"too cool for school"
posted by gyusan at 11:50 AM on March 8, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by gyusan at 11:50 AM on March 8, 2010 [1 favorite]
I call someone like that a smug fuckface, but, well, you know.
posted by peachfuzz at 11:52 AM on March 8, 2010
posted by peachfuzz at 11:52 AM on March 8, 2010
It's "played out."
posted by yeti at 11:53 AM on March 8, 2010 [4 favorites]
posted by yeti at 11:53 AM on March 8, 2010 [4 favorites]
It's so passé.
posted by defreckled at 11:53 AM on March 8, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by defreckled at 11:53 AM on March 8, 2010 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Fauxstalgia? That's pretty ugly, but hey.
posted by Skot at 11:54 AM on March 8, 2010 [4 favorites]
posted by Skot at 11:54 AM on March 8, 2010 [4 favorites]
"Grampa."
As in, "Back in my day, this was all orange groves as far as the eye can see!"
posted by Devoidoid at 11:54 AM on March 8, 2010
As in, "Back in my day, this was all orange groves as far as the eye can see!"
posted by Devoidoid at 11:54 AM on March 8, 2010
Jumped the shark?
posted by mr_roboto at 11:54 AM on March 8, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by mr_roboto at 11:54 AM on March 8, 2010 [3 favorites]
"precious" is pretty good for that attitude, too.
Intolerable cool-ty?
posted by peachfuzz at 11:55 AM on March 8, 2010 [1 favorite]
Intolerable cool-ty?
posted by peachfuzz at 11:55 AM on March 8, 2010 [1 favorite]
Past its prime. Fallen from grace.
posted by defreckled at 11:55 AM on March 8, 2010
posted by defreckled at 11:55 AM on March 8, 2010
My private mental phrase for these laments is "I was into xyz before it was cool."
posted by usonian at 11:57 AM on March 8, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by usonian at 11:57 AM on March 8, 2010 [3 favorites]
Iconoclasm is kinda close.
posted by eggplantplacebo at 11:57 AM on March 8, 2010
posted by eggplantplacebo at 11:57 AM on March 8, 2010
that guy who insists that the parties you missed were the most epic of all time but the parties you made it to were lame.
posted by Lutoslawski at 11:57 AM on March 8, 2010
posted by Lutoslawski at 11:57 AM on March 8, 2010
declasse is exactly the word you're looking for.
posted by wwartorff at 11:57 AM on March 8, 2010 [4 favorites]
posted by wwartorff at 11:57 AM on March 8, 2010 [4 favorites]
"too cool for school"
Favorited for being such an uncool turn-of-phrase. I imagine it's all in the eye contact. A certain restaurant is recommended. A certain person predictably deep-sixes the notion with a riff on, "Oh, that place used to be good but ... "
Pause. Establish eye contact. Then:
"Wow, you're just too cool for school, aren't you?"
posted by philip-random at 11:59 AM on March 8, 2010 [4 favorites]
Favorited for being such an uncool turn-of-phrase. I imagine it's all in the eye contact. A certain restaurant is recommended. A certain person predictably deep-sixes the notion with a riff on, "Oh, that place used to be good but ... "
Pause. Establish eye contact. Then:
"Wow, you're just too cool for school, aren't you?"
posted by philip-random at 11:59 AM on March 8, 2010 [4 favorites]
cultural solipsism
posted by HP LaserJet P10006 at 11:59 AM on March 8, 2010
posted by HP LaserJet P10006 at 11:59 AM on March 8, 2010
are we talking about describing the bar, or describing the statement itself?
the bar would be declasse, but the statement would not. Oh man, ravers have a term for this, but i can't remember it.
posted by Jon_Evil at 12:00 PM on March 8, 2010
the bar would be declasse, but the statement would not. Oh man, ravers have a term for this, but i can't remember it.
posted by Jon_Evil at 12:00 PM on March 8, 2010
Response by poster: Elaboration:
I don't mean a word that refers to a place that, in fact, used to be better than it is now - I mean more a person who insists that everything was better when he started coming there, and had stopped being anywhere near so good by the time YOU got there. (I hope it's not a spoiler to say that I have a specific person in mind here.)
Fauxstalgia is closest thus far. Lutoslawski and Peachfuzz have the attitude pegged.
Also, yeah, endemic not epidemic. -1 for me :P
posted by Pickman's Next Top Model at 12:02 PM on March 8, 2010
I don't mean a word that refers to a place that, in fact, used to be better than it is now - I mean more a person who insists that everything was better when he started coming there, and had stopped being anywhere near so good by the time YOU got there. (I hope it's not a spoiler to say that I have a specific person in mind here.)
Fauxstalgia is closest thus far. Lutoslawski and Peachfuzz have the attitude pegged.
Also, yeah, endemic not epidemic. -1 for me :P
posted by Pickman's Next Top Model at 12:02 PM on March 8, 2010
Fashionably cynical.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 12:03 PM on March 8, 2010
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 12:03 PM on March 8, 2010
I like to think of these guys as Indie Rock Petes.
Pete will never get what he wants, because then he'd have to hate it.
posted by Metroid Baby at 12:04 PM on March 8, 2010 [5 favorites]
Pete will never get what he wants, because then he'd have to hate it.
posted by Metroid Baby at 12:04 PM on March 8, 2010 [5 favorites]
Supercilious: "haughtily disdainful or contemptuous"
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 12:05 PM on March 8, 2010
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 12:05 PM on March 8, 2010
You might find the answers to this question interesting, though they don't directly answer your question.
Also, this topic was wayyy cooler in 2006. *wink*
posted by mireille at 12:07 PM on March 8, 2010 [1 favorite]
Also, this topic was wayyy cooler in 2006. *wink*
posted by mireille at 12:07 PM on March 8, 2010 [1 favorite]
This attitude is so prevalent among people who attended UNC-Chapel Hill (my alma mater) about Chapel Hill that there is a standard joke about it:
Q: How many UNC grads does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Five: one to change the bulb and four to sit around and talk about how much better the old one was.
posted by pasici at 12:10 PM on March 8, 2010 [4 favorites]
Q: How many UNC grads does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Five: one to change the bulb and four to sit around and talk about how much better the old one was.
posted by pasici at 12:10 PM on March 8, 2010 [4 favorites]
Past its prime. Fallen from grace.
No, the question is about the comments about things that are supposedly past their prime. (On preview, what the OP said.)
Iconoclasm is kinda close.
Iconoclasm is not really what this is at all.
There were two recent FPPS that linked to articles that were basically all about this (ridiculous) attitude directed toward indie music. You might find something there.
I also like "fauxstalgia."
"Alienated fandom"?
"Original fan syndrome"?
mireille, that joke was so much better when the OP did it 20 minutes ago.
posted by Jaltcoh at 12:13 PM on March 8, 2010
No, the question is about the comments about things that are supposedly past their prime. (On preview, what the OP said.)
Iconoclasm is kinda close.
Iconoclasm is not really what this is at all.
There were two recent FPPS that linked to articles that were basically all about this (ridiculous) attitude directed toward indie music. You might find something there.
I also like "fauxstalgia."
"Alienated fandom"?
"Original fan syndrome"?
mireille, that joke was so much better when the OP did it 20 minutes ago.
posted by Jaltcoh at 12:13 PM on March 8, 2010
Pete will never get what he wants, because then he'd have to hate it.
Don't belittle my crippling disability. Also, your favorite band sucks.
posted by Aquaman at 12:15 PM on March 8, 2010
Don't belittle my crippling disability. Also, your favorite band sucks.
posted by Aquaman at 12:15 PM on March 8, 2010
Hipster. That's what hipsters are most famous for doing.
They do this for anything, but are most famous for doing this with music:
"Oh, you like that band? Man, I used to love them. Their earlier stuff was good but now..."
posted by Solon and Thanks at 12:25 PM on March 8, 2010
They do this for anything, but are most famous for doing this with music:
"Oh, you like that band? Man, I used to love them. Their earlier stuff was good but now..."
posted by Solon and Thanks at 12:25 PM on March 8, 2010
oh, I see your tag
posted by Solon and Thanks at 12:26 PM on March 8, 2010
posted by Solon and Thanks at 12:26 PM on March 8, 2010
My grandfather used to say crap like that all the time, and my grandmother used to call him a wet blanket.
I thought it was a fairly innocuous phrase and in common use, but I found out from my mother years later that my gramma used it in reference to another saying my grandfather used to say: "I'm late to the orgy, and all that's left is a damp sheet."
The more I learn about my relatives, the less I feel related.
posted by Bathtub Bobsled at 12:30 PM on March 8, 2010 [3 favorites]
I thought it was a fairly innocuous phrase and in common use, but I found out from my mother years later that my gramma used it in reference to another saying my grandfather used to say: "I'm late to the orgy, and all that's left is a damp sheet."
The more I learn about my relatives, the less I feel related.
posted by Bathtub Bobsled at 12:30 PM on March 8, 2010 [3 favorites]
I think people are getting a little confused because there are two different definitions you're looking for 1) "A thing that used to be awesome, but now sucks" passe is a good word for that and 2) People who complain about things being passe, and their complaints, which people are using "too cool for school" and "Indy rock Pete" and the like to describe. I don't know a good word for that, though. It's definitely a thing. There's probably a German word for it.
posted by delmoi at 12:30 PM on March 8, 2010
posted by delmoi at 12:30 PM on March 8, 2010
"Man, I used to love them. Their earlier stuff was good but now..."
In fairness to hipsters, every band that stays around for a while ends up going downhill. That's not hipster distortion, that's just a fact of life.
posted by Jaltcoh at 12:31 PM on March 8, 2010 [1 favorite]
In fairness to hipsters, every band that stays around for a while ends up going downhill. That's not hipster distortion, that's just a fact of life.
posted by Jaltcoh at 12:31 PM on March 8, 2010 [1 favorite]
One-upper-by-proxy.
Speaker A: [insert story here]
Speaker B: "Oh yeah, that's nothing, this one time I..."
Substitute the story for a proposition that Speaker A aligns with. Speaker B denies proposition by being 'ahead of the game' (and usually does NOT follow up with new proposition that s/he aligns with better).
posted by iamkimiam at 12:32 PM on March 8, 2010
Speaker A: [insert story here]
Speaker B: "Oh yeah, that's nothing, this one time I..."
Substitute the story for a proposition that Speaker A aligns with. Speaker B denies proposition by being 'ahead of the game' (and usually does NOT follow up with new proposition that s/he aligns with better).
posted by iamkimiam at 12:32 PM on March 8, 2010
I think people are getting a little confused because there are two different definitions you're looking for
Actually, I think the OP has been very clear in the question:
Is there a word, term, or phrase for comments along the lines of "This bar (club, restaurant, event, party, public space, etc) used to be cool, but now it sucks." ?
And the follow-up:
I don't mean a word that refers to a place that, in fact, used to be better than it is now - I mean more a person who insists that everything was better when he started coming there
posted by Jaltcoh at 12:33 PM on March 8, 2010
Actually, I think the OP has been very clear in the question:
Is there a word, term, or phrase for comments along the lines of "This bar (club, restaurant, event, party, public space, etc) used to be cool, but now it sucks." ?
And the follow-up:
I don't mean a word that refers to a place that, in fact, used to be better than it is now - I mean more a person who insists that everything was better when he started coming there
posted by Jaltcoh at 12:33 PM on March 8, 2010
Best answer: I feel like it's somewhere in the intersection of poser and snob ... as soon as anyone else enjoys anything, they have to leap off the bandwagon lest they be associated with something as uncool as a bandwagon. Which suggests to me (and seems to be proven out by my experience) that they don't so much like the bar/band/beer in and of itself; they like being on the cutting edge of what is thought cool. It's much more about chasing cutting-edge coolness than seeking quality, so of course the perceived quality of the experience falls off when that experience is less exclusive or less cutting-edge.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 12:34 PM on March 8, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 12:34 PM on March 8, 2010 [3 favorites]
Sounds like the "should have seen it yesterday" attitude that prevails in surfing, no matter how good it is today, You should have seen it yesterday, it was epic.
posted by kanemano at 12:34 PM on March 8, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by kanemano at 12:34 PM on March 8, 2010 [1 favorite]
They're like early adopters, but they abandon everything as soon as someone else adopts it (whether or not it's obsolete yet).
Maybe they're buzzkills, because they chase buzz, but as soon as there's buzz, that kills it for them. :)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 12:36 PM on March 8, 2010
Maybe they're buzzkills, because they chase buzz, but as soon as there's buzz, that kills it for them. :)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 12:36 PM on March 8, 2010
"Discerning"
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 12:37 PM on March 8, 2010
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 12:37 PM on March 8, 2010
I call them MeFites with low user numbers.
posted by headnsouth at 12:46 PM on March 8, 2010
posted by headnsouth at 12:46 PM on March 8, 2010
Best answer: When I was in China I met people like this constantly, they could only enjoy something if they believed they were one of only a handful of westerners to have ever experienced it. I called it Marco Polo syndrome.
posted by bluejayk at 12:53 PM on March 8, 2010 [9 favorites]
posted by bluejayk at 12:53 PM on March 8, 2010 [9 favorites]
I feel like it's somewhere in the intersection of poser and snob
... which we here in Blighty shorten to "knob."
The phenomenon being described in the question is the bastard offspring of common-or-garden oneupmanship, incidentally.
posted by MuffinMan at 12:58 PM on March 8, 2010
... which we here in Blighty shorten to "knob."
The phenomenon being described in the question is the bastard offspring of common-or-garden oneupmanship, incidentally.
posted by MuffinMan at 12:58 PM on March 8, 2010
Yogi Berra once said "that place is so crowded, nobody goes there anymore." Seems appropriate in this context.
posted by Toekneesan at 12:58 PM on March 8, 2010 [4 favorites]
posted by Toekneesan at 12:58 PM on March 8, 2010 [4 favorites]
The daily show did a piece on something similar to this. They lampooned the way certain prominent conservative media figures glorify the past. They called it "Even better than the real thing"
Monty Python took a stab at it as well with the Four Yorkshiremen.
I call it Mythstalgia.
posted by magikker at 1:15 PM on March 8, 2010 [1 favorite]
Monty Python took a stab at it as well with the Four Yorkshiremen.
I call it Mythstalgia.
posted by magikker at 1:15 PM on March 8, 2010 [1 favorite]
I'm losing my edge. But I was there.. and really into the DFA Records when they were still just releasing singles although Black Dice were so much better and weirder but then Timbaland got into them and I was like.. damn.
This attitude does sometimes come with a healthy sense of irony about having this attitude, though I'm not sure if that makes it better or worse!
posted by citron at 3:28 PM on March 8, 2010 [1 favorite]
This attitude does sometimes come with a healthy sense of irony about having this attitude, though I'm not sure if that makes it better or worse!
posted by citron at 3:28 PM on March 8, 2010 [1 favorite]
Most of my suggestions have been mentioned. I'll dig for the root of the behavior instead.
To piggyback on what Eyebrows McGee said, I find this sort of disparagement comes from a bias that anything mainstream must be bad.
If it's mainstream, it's diluted to the point that it addresses the least common denominator among a massive group of people -- one gigantic sweeping generalization.
Of course, that offends those who insist on their individuality and their entitlement to be treated as such. The question is, are they actually being individualistic, or merely mimics.
A couple of my friends and I have been having it out about whether hipsters (the people group stereotypically accused of said behavior), are mavens or merely tools plagiarizing mavens.
I favor the latter from experience, being a music hipster myself. I like listening to rare music for the identity people ascribe to me when they hear I listen to such and such a band they've never heard of. It's a way to make friends. I've had whole conversations with people like myself where we name band names and say, "Yes. I listen to them. Yes, them too," and bask in our own self-righteousness. It's really quite disgusting. We're plagiarizing the musicheads who found these artists orginally and told us about them, and we think that makes us more attractive.
To be fair, it's rather ingrained now, to the point that if I'm forced to listen to the radio, I really can tell, without help from a maven, that Taylor Swift and Nickleback are vomitworthy compared to Joanna Newsom and the National. So it may be that what is snobbery at first, is eventually mere developed taste.
But for other genres, where I am the maven and encounter the tool, I ask them if they're from Williamsburg. It's a sure way to end the scene.
posted by Galen at 4:15 PM on March 8, 2010
To piggyback on what Eyebrows McGee said, I find this sort of disparagement comes from a bias that anything mainstream must be bad.
If it's mainstream, it's diluted to the point that it addresses the least common denominator among a massive group of people -- one gigantic sweeping generalization.
Of course, that offends those who insist on their individuality and their entitlement to be treated as such. The question is, are they actually being individualistic, or merely mimics.
A couple of my friends and I have been having it out about whether hipsters (the people group stereotypically accused of said behavior), are mavens or merely tools plagiarizing mavens.
I favor the latter from experience, being a music hipster myself. I like listening to rare music for the identity people ascribe to me when they hear I listen to such and such a band they've never heard of. It's a way to make friends. I've had whole conversations with people like myself where we name band names and say, "Yes. I listen to them. Yes, them too," and bask in our own self-righteousness. It's really quite disgusting. We're plagiarizing the musicheads who found these artists orginally and told us about them, and we think that makes us more attractive.
To be fair, it's rather ingrained now, to the point that if I'm forced to listen to the radio, I really can tell, without help from a maven, that Taylor Swift and Nickleback are vomitworthy compared to Joanna Newsom and the National. So it may be that what is snobbery at first, is eventually mere developed taste.
But for other genres, where I am the maven and encounter the tool, I ask them if they're from Williamsburg. It's a sure way to end the scene.
posted by Galen at 4:15 PM on March 8, 2010
Yogi Berra: "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."
posted by a womble is an active kind of sloth at 7:24 PM on March 8, 2010
posted by a womble is an active kind of sloth at 7:24 PM on March 8, 2010
Record store clerk.
Golden-ager.
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 9:13 PM on March 8, 2010 [1 favorite]
Golden-ager.
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 9:13 PM on March 8, 2010 [1 favorite]
"I was through with it before you learned what to do with it" - Dolemite
I call these people Scorekeepers
posted by jasondigitized at 5:56 AM on March 9, 2010
I call these people Scorekeepers
posted by jasondigitized at 5:56 AM on March 9, 2010
I've always been partial to the sarcastic use of "liked it back when it was underground" ("I liked it back when it was underground" or "you liked it back when it was underground"). Extra points if you can make up a fake rant up on the spot on how you/the other person used to be all up on the mixed tapes and everything (even if you're just talking about pizza, like, I don't know "Man, I remember when Joe's Pizza Shack used to put out mixed tapes.")
posted by kkokkodalk at 7:36 AM on March 9, 2010
posted by kkokkodalk at 7:36 AM on March 9, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by jckll at 11:49 AM on March 8, 2010 [2 favorites]