Nils Gustaf Lindgren wrote:
> Hello good gentles all,
> The last few days have seen (in the wake of a perfectly legitimate and
> courteous question from a lady wishing to learn more) rise the spectre of
> wine snobbism. The possibility has been mentioned that so and so is a wine
> snob - others have embraced the term with sincerety.
> Of course the group is heterogenous. It contains francophils and
> francophobes, cork dorks and screwcap fans. There are members from New
> Zealand to Norway and beyond. Newbies come and all too often go, whether in
> pain and anger, or wonder and mystfication, or, having found out that it is
> preferable to get a life, they being, apparently , very useful to many
> things, some of which has nothing to do with wines whatsoever.
>
> I wanted to look into the matter. To start with, what is a snob (I know what
> wine is)?
> Google-san-wa anata-no tomodachi-desu as I always say - and found that the
> roots that I had heard, that it was short for "sine nobilitas", i e, without
> nobility (which would have meant we were ALL snobs [1]) was, in fact, false,
> and that it apparently originally meant shoemaker. I am not aware of anyone
> on the group having proclaimed to be a shoemaker.
>
> A snob is, then, "a person that adopts the world-view that other people are
> inherently inferior for any one of a variety of reasons including supposed
> intellect, wealth, education, ancestry, etc".
>
> Do we do that? Does anybody here consider other people "inherently inferior"
> because of their taste in wines? Harsh words, dangerous grounds ... Anybody
> tempted to share their thoughts?
>
> Cheers
>
> Nils Gustaf
> [1] Except Lord St Helier of course

I am relatively new to wines and this NG. What I find here is often hard
nose language when just trying to relay their feelings. I'm sure most
find the impersonal security of not facing folks as emboldening. While
only a few would be so harsh in a face to face encounter (can you see
how bar fights begin? ha). If I harden my heart and wade through the
abuse, I find good education. If I was sensitive, I'd leave. This
doesn't mean those that like to be smart-asses should continue their
abuse, but that as for most of life - ya wade through the swamp of folks
to find things that make you wiser. I have learned from the most boring
snob at a dinner party, if you just wade through it.

Good note, Nils,not sure it will make a difference, but was nice to hear
someone say it.
DAve
p.s. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure we are all snobs on some aspects of
life - for me, drivers with cell phones. Don't get me started.... haha