class warfare

Things the Mothers of Urban Baby Find Tacky

Photo: iStockphoto

Yesterday the anonymous parenting forum Urban Baby lit up with a recurring and perennially popular topic: Things That You Find Tacky. Among them: French manicures, Edible Arrangements, whirlpools/Jacuzzis, PTAs, man caves, girls’ night outs, furniture sets, the Hamptons (“On season! Off season is very classy IMO”), as well as the rest of Long Island.

If one were to use the Urban Baby mothers’ contributions to arrive at a new definition of “tacky,” one might conclude that it means anything that can be perceived as ostentatious.

Such as: “McMansions,” “big crosses,” “big TVs,” “big diamond rings” (Princess Diana’s and Grace Kelly’s rings were notable exceptions), “big flower headbands on toddlers,” and even “king-size beds.” The bed issue prompted a separate debate on the inherent tackiness of total physical comfort. “Comfy often equals tacky, sorry.”

Most surprising was that babies, the raison d’être of the forum, could themselves be tacky. Both in vitro fertilization twins and Irish twins (two children born in the same year) were deemed tacky. (Regular twins, however, are “chic.”)

Speaking of the Irish: Claddagh rings? Tacky. According to Urban Baby, virtually anything that hints at a culture other than WASP is tacky, including, wrote one user, all Italians. It’s a brisk reminder that the “urban” in Urban Baby is not a euphemism. It just means Tribeca.

This sub-thread about children with pierced ears summed it up best.

girls below the age of 12 with earrings 

try 16 

+1 

Yes- the entire world would be better if populated only by WASPs.

this 

+1000 

Ita! Babies with earrings eeeek (except for if it’s cultural). 

no even then it seems weird 

Absolutely disagree. Its customary in Indian families to pierce ears at 1year (actually, historically we pierced the ears of boys and girls, but the boy thing has mostly fallen out of favor). We think it looks adorable and sweet.

this!! 

No. 

Things Mothers of Urban Baby Find Tacky