Faking it

Those wonderful Brits have done it again over at the Guardian Unlimited: Arts Blog.

Check this out: How 'highbrow' became a dirty word - "Forget bluffing your way through intellectual art forms, these days the best way to appear cultured is to refine your ignorance."

According to this blog writer, a paper called the Daily Express has a bluffer's guide to faking your way through an intelligent conversation by appearing to have read literature. And although I have nothing good to say about their example of Catcher in the Rye... Mom always said if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything... I think even that should be read, if only to arm oneself against it.

But the important thing to remember is the author's point. If you're trying to be one of the 'in-crowd', what use is it to even fake having read the classics? You'll be more 'in' if you feign ignorance. Kinda sad when you think about it.

Me? I'm so far away from in... Wait, doesn't that make me 'far out'? Crap, it's a couple decades too late for that. ;o)