What status symbols do you posess?

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For example, I recently aquired this year's Pirelli Calendar -- one of the most high kitch cultrual artyfacts and obnoxious status symbols of all time.

Other examples might include parking spaces with your name on them, corner offices, things named after you or editor's columns.

― Jimmy Mod always makes friends with women before bedding them down (ModJ), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 05:31 (twenty years ago)

gigantic penis

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 05:33 (twenty years ago)

I don't think I own a single status symbol, which I think is pretty cool.

― kate/papa november (papa november), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 05:35 (twenty years ago)

Girlfriend and inflatable dome. (No, the girlfriend is not inflatable. I've tried.)

― Momus (Momus), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 05:37 (twenty years ago)

I have scarf made from some Dior satin, but I guess thats all :/

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 05:38 (twenty years ago)

a juris doctorate.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 05:43 (twenty years ago)

I've got a bunch of low-level Nike/Levi/Coca-Cola/Ford (ugh) status symbols that everyone living in a first world country has, but as far as I know I have no economic class related status symbols relative to my own peer group. It makes sense because relative to those people I am a poor-ass motherfucker.
Things loaded with cultural cachet, on the other hand, I have plenty of.

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 05:50 (twenty years ago)

Visions of wearing large hardrives loaded with comics and pop music on a chain around my neck!

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 05:52 (twenty years ago)

hard drives

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 05:52 (twenty years ago)

Oh wait shit that's basically an iPod isn't it, I don't have one of those.

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 05:53 (twenty years ago)

A Leica, which is somewhat embarassing because it was an impulse purchase with gambling money and I don't use it near enough to justify its existence right now. But I also can't bring myself to sell it because I can use it when I get my eyes fixed.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 06:11 (twenty years ago)

Now that's the kind of status symbol that impresses me :)

― kate/papa november (papa november), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 06:20 (twenty years ago)

uh, nothing?

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 06:25 (twenty years ago)

I don't quite get what constitutes a 'status symbol'. I have an ipod (soon to have two, when my shuffle arrives). I also have a couple of expensive Nikon cameras and some lenses. Do those qualify? Probably not.

― supercub, Tuesday, 15 February 2005 06:29 (twenty years ago)

an ipod is a status symbol.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 06:31 (twenty years ago)

Isn't everything a status symbol of some form? My circular saw is a status symbol, as is my Kids in the Hall poster and my Red Sox cap.

Are we only talking about positive class symbols?

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 06:33 (twenty years ago)

I don't think an iPod is a status symbol.

― supercub, Tuesday, 15 February 2005 06:34 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, OTM Milo, because for me, i'd be impressed with someone who had multiple antique daguerrotypes, yet the average person wouldn't give a shit.

On the other hand, i'm not impressed at all by BMW's, rolex watches etc etc which I guess would be common status symbols.

― kate/papa november (papa november), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 06:35 (twenty years ago)

What status does it demonstrate? I have $300 dollars to spend?

x-post

― supercub, Tuesday, 15 February 2005 06:36 (twenty years ago)

Good point. I mean I have a laptop, but it isnt a fancy brand. And I wouldnt want brandname shoes or clothes (whats the fuss over Jimmy Choo or Blahnik?). But I'd love to own a digital studio and loads of hi tech gadgetry.

(xpost to kate)

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 06:37 (twenty years ago)

i don't think i have any status symbols. i was pretty excited when i bought a fridge and a washing machine (of my very own that were totally new and weren't handed down from anyone at all) last year, i dunno if that counts.

― gem (trisk), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 06:37 (twenty years ago)

if you wanna listen to music, use a freakin' tape walkman. or an 8-track.

milo, i mean if you want to abstract it, sure, but i think it's obvious that one uses the phrase "status symbols" they mean a benz and not a shopping cart with all their possessions in it.

supercub, that's $300 more than i have. so consider yourself lucky.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 06:38 (twenty years ago)

which is not saying that if i had money, i wouldn't spend it.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 06:39 (twenty years ago)

of course, i'm not trying to indict anyone either. class one-upmanship on TEH INTERNET = dudduddud

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 06:40 (twenty years ago)

I think maybe at my age owning my own place is a status symbol of sorts, although we don't own it outright (paying it off).

― kate/papa november (papa november), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 06:41 (twenty years ago)

paying off is still better than renting, tho.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 06:42 (twenty years ago)

sorry, put "better" in quotes.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 06:43 (twenty years ago)

the U2 ipod is a status symbol, because you're paying $100 more just to get the U2 ipod. it doesn't do anything different than a regular ipod. I think comparing a walkman to an ipod doesn't really work. a status symbol indicates something about the person's values. they value status. an ipod can just indicate that someone likes having a small music player that holds a lot of songs.

x-post

― supercub, Tuesday, 15 February 2005 06:43 (twenty years ago)

yeah exactly. esp at 25 and 26 respectively, although some people assume it's because we're doing well, which is not the case. My husband has helpful parents is all.

xpost

― kate/papa november (papa november), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 06:44 (twenty years ago)

Jimmy Mod wants people to fess up about high-ticket, pricey purchases that people have made which come with a cloud of signifiers of membership in an elite group of . . . . consumers.

As hipsters and/or as mostly poor college students, either nobody is fessing up, or genuinely nobody owns such things here. I'm guessing there's a mix of the former and the latter. There are too many New Yorkers on this list for some of y'all not to have spent your hard earned media dollars on status symbols of some variety: Prada this, Gucci that, etc.

So, to honor what I take to be the spirit of Jimmy Mod's inquiry, I confess: I own a pair of Hermés pink corduroy trousers (lined in pink satin, no less) bought in Paris on the Boulevard St. Germain for an outrageously overpriced sum. There, I've said it. Happy now? They were a gift to me from a loved one.

― Drew Daniel (Drew Daniel), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 06:44 (twenty years ago)

But I see what you're saying. I don't get people who use the crap earbuds that come with the ipod, because they want people to know they have an ipod.

x-post

― supercub, Tuesday, 15 February 2005 06:45 (twenty years ago)

i'm doing my second uni degree (law) now. when that's finished i'll consider it to be a status symbol.

― gem (trisk), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 06:46 (twenty years ago)

Oh! I have a Paul Smith watch and a Lacoste jacket.

― supercub, Tuesday, 15 February 2005 06:47 (twenty years ago)

(both were gifts)

― supercub, Tuesday, 15 February 2005 06:47 (twenty years ago)

um but supercub, an ipod isn't even the best mp3 player on the market! i know that and i'm too poor to buy any of them!

i suppose the really expensive charlemagne palestine record i bought when i had a really good paying job is a status symbol, to record geeks.

i have never bought anything by prada, i would guess they don't have anything in my size. no dig on status clothes, freakin' cheap-ass h&m doesn't either.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 06:49 (twenty years ago)

Fair enough, hstencil. But I just associate the term with three different (and acceptable) meanings, and the question was vague enough to confuse context. 1. High-priced luxury items that confer status in the American-capitalist sense on the owner. 2. Any item that acts as a particular signifier for the owner/'s personality - class/culture/religion/etc. (this one is partially a question of purpose, related to 1. but not necessarily so expensive or consumerist) 3. Items (or lack of) that reflect particular facts about the owner's life (mostly unintentional).

1. a Rolex 2. OC DVDs 3. No health insurance.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 06:50 (twenty years ago)

does it matter if it's a gift? i sort of think of status symbols as something you buy for yourself

― gem (trisk), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 06:50 (twenty years ago)

supercub, are you a furry?

― charleston charge (chaki), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 06:52 (twenty years ago)

for some insane reason, i'd rather spend money on a nice dinner than a watch. so maybe an occasional expensive meal (not that i've bought one in, oh, three years) is my status symbol.

milo, i see your point, but the first post did state:

...one of the most high kitch cultrual artyfacts and obnoxious status symbols of all time.

and aren't a lot of what even the most nouveau-riche american capitalists consider status symbols mostly european brands?

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 06:53 (twenty years ago)

http://www.pcself.com/primopiano/images/creative_zen_touch.jpg

I've got an iFraud and some oversized headphones to boot, natch.

― Matt Chesnut, Tuesday, 15 February 2005 06:53 (twenty years ago)

my status symbols: criterion collection 8 1/2, asics tigers, and a g3 powerbook

― charleston charge (chaki), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 06:54 (twenty years ago)

Weirdly, I never thought of college degrees as status symbols but of course they are. I do recall seeing a Mercedes in Orange County with OXFORDGRD on the vanity plate. I remember thinking it was really gauche- I just can't see someone in the UK doing it, it seemed like a very American (or maybe just OC) thing to do to yell and scream so about having gone to Oxford, like some kind of ghastly overcompensation.

― Drew Daniel (Drew Daniel), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 06:57 (twenty years ago)

i don't know that i think of the degree i already have as a status symbol. maybe the fact that i did my honours. but doesn't it depend on your definition of status and how you want to be identified... i have most admiration for people of intellect and passion, so i consider education a status symbol for sure. especially since a tertiary education is no mean feat to acquire, or at least it hasn't been for me.

― gem (trisk), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 07:05 (twenty years ago)

I thought the Pirelli Calendar was just an arty SI:Swimsuit Issue (sadly without tires), and its status only reflective of the cheesiness. I didn't realize there was any kind of exclusivity to them.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 07:06 (twenty years ago)

When I finish my fine art degree, I'll feel more able/confident in calling myself an artist, which is bullshit, as i've not really gained anymore skills than I had before I started. Stupid.

― kate/papa november (papa november), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 07:07 (twenty years ago)

yeah i guess the whole uni degree thing is a bit silly isn't it kate. the letters after my name got me a great job, but they say i have a psych degree and realistically i never do anything remotely connected with psych. but i still value my education.

― gem (trisk), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 07:10 (twenty years ago)

oh yeah totally, i mean i lacked any kind of confidence in my artwork, so if nothing else it's given me that :)

― kate/papa november (papa november), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 07:12 (twenty years ago)

I am, and I have a Prada bunny suit.

― supercub, Tuesday, 15 February 2005 07:17 (twenty years ago)

an answer to this question:

supercub, are you a furry?

― supercub, Tuesday, 15 February 2005 07:20 (twenty years ago)

I got a bottle of Australian wine for Secret Santa last year. The guy who brought it said to keep it for two years and it will be worth something haha he can't lose with that line.
some way too expensive RAYBANS I only got cos my mom gave me a gift certificate to the expensive sunglass store. They even have Ray Ban painted on one of the lenses so I can reprazent properly(I thought it was a sticker).
a Honda civic, the cadillac of automobiles.

― tremendoid (tremendoid), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 07:20 (twenty years ago)

Skipping 88 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

I'm all about the minks.

― alix (alix), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 17:13 (twenty years ago)

mink polaroids

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 17:14 (twenty years ago)

I have a trouser ferret.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 17:15 (twenty years ago)

Oh lord.

― alix (alix), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 17:15 (twenty years ago)

I have a taxidermized wolf-head/skin from Russia, two As Four suits, an Oxford degree, and an ARP 2600 synthesizer.

Maybe there should be a separate "What status symbols do you covet?" thread to get the aspirational counterpoint to this thread going.

― Drew Daniel (Drew Daniel), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 17:17 (twenty years ago)

I have a CD Recorder.

― jel -- (jel), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 17:34 (twenty years ago)

Do cell phones count? How about lame ones that don't take pictures or have fancy ringtones? I have one of those.

― o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 17:36 (twenty years ago)

My movie star good looks and rapier wit.

― jel -- (jel), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 17:41 (twenty years ago)

An uncanny knowledge of the nonemclature.

― jel -- (jel), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 17:41 (twenty years ago)

Do my status symbols count if I never wear them in public or have anyone over to my place to see them?

― j.lu (j.lu), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 17:42 (twenty years ago)

is japan still a sumo culture? because that would be one.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 17:51 (twenty years ago)

back to the bellies thing, in spain an older man's belly is known as "the curve of happiness," so yes, it's a status symbol.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 18:37 (twenty years ago)

I have a goodlink that tethers me to work, wherever I go.

Im also due some business cards that I dont need, but want anyway.

― Dude, are you a 15 year old asian chick? (jingleberries), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 18:39 (twenty years ago)

I have the opposite of a status symbol today, as I missed a spot while shaving.

― Fish fingers all in a line (kenan), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 18:41 (twenty years ago)

I HAVE TELEVISION

― sugarpants (sugarpants), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 19:58 (twenty years ago)

I HAVE COLOR TELEVISION

― phil-two (phil-two), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 20:03 (twenty years ago)

My movie star good looks and rapier wit.

My rapier looks and movie star wit.

― Michael White (Hereward), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 20:06 (twenty years ago)

VETERAN STATUS
AMTRAK GUEST REWARDS SELECT STATUS
SALARIED EXEMPT STATUS
ZIPCAR MEMBERSHIP STATUS
ENGAGED TO HOTTIE STATUS

― TOMBOT, Tuesday, 15 February 2005 20:19 (twenty years ago)

I'm a consumer whore:

1 pr. designer glasses
3 pr. designer jeans (dkny jeans, dkny jeans, diesel)

2 computers
laserjet printer
bose computer speakers (though I worked at bose and it was a parting gift)

JBL surround sound system (purchased '96)
sony studio headphones (which are an arguable as work purchase -- I occasionally'm employed as ADR tech.)

128m iriver mp3 player
xbox (gift)
dvd player (gift)

― Remy (x Jeremy), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 20:22 (twenty years ago)

Do cell phones count? How about lame ones that don't take pictures or have fancy ringtones? I have one of those.
Hey I have one that has a completely fucked up screen. I once downloaded a ringtone but couldnt figure out how to install it in the whatever it is you... well, it's stuck in my message folder.

Whenever I read S.O. I think of Son Of (a bitch).

Next up: the iMAC G5 with twenty inch screen. yum yum

― stevie nixed (stevie nixed), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 20:30 (twenty years ago)

Papal Knighthood
Several German Bundesliga refs
The concession to mine Dick Cheney's heart for coal (won in a good natured poker game)
Exemption from Law of Gravity
First Edition of The Bible
An army of lazer-eyed sexbot ninja assassins
John the Baptist's Prom Boutoniere
Diplomatic Immunity (This one's some serious shit)
A wind-up toaster oven (in case of earthquakes)

― Michael White (Hereward), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 20:40 (twenty years ago)

apart from a few of these, i don't really know what actually qualifies as a status symbol:
i have a rolex, but it was gift, so...
a pair of very expensive prada shoes, and a pair of gucci shoes.
a bunch of overpriced jeans.
a 17" titanium g4.
a new car.
a yohji yamamoto jacket.

no one ever really remarks about them though... so i don't necessarily imagine it as a thing many people think about.

― firstworldman (firstworldman), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 21:13 (twenty years ago)

i have a high definition widescreen tv and lots of home audio things because i get great discounts at my place of employment. i also have decent clothes, mostly from jcrew/banana republic/gap.

i have a car as well.

― t0dd swiss, Tuesday, 15 February 2005 21:15 (twenty years ago)

a yohji yamamoto jacket.

ooh!

― phil-two (phil-two), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 23:00 (twenty years ago)

(bah the first post on this thread made me irrelevant)

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 23:05 (twenty years ago)

In order to be a status symbol does it have to be something that is on display to the world?

― mouse (mouse), Wednesday, 16 February 2005 02:41 (twenty years ago)

yes.

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 16 February 2005 03:34 (twenty years ago)

i also have:

fairly new pc
playstation
xbox
onkyo surround sound
brokerage account

― Big Baby Bingo (Chris V), Wednesday, 16 February 2005 10:53 (twenty years ago)

ten years pass...

What counts as a status symbol 2015? Shit hot car/phone? Handmade washbag? Topknot?

― darraghmac, Saturday, 19 December 2015 02:26 (nine years ago)

There are still a few exceedingly expensive items out there, such as a vacation house in Aspen CO or a Ferrari, that cannot be knocked off by the millions in Chinese factories, but they're getting scarcer. Then there's stuff like this.

― a little too mature to be cute (Aimless), Saturday, 19 December 2015 02:39 (nine years ago)

teslas

― iatee, Saturday, 19 December 2015 02:45 (nine years ago)

^my neighbor five doors down has one

― a little too mature to be cute (Aimless), Saturday, 19 December 2015 02:50 (nine years ago)

Taxsaver bus and luas ticket, annual version. Boom.

― darraghmac, Saturday, 19 December 2015 02:54 (nine years ago)

I'm impressed, but very secretly.

― a little too mature to be cute (Aimless), Saturday, 19 December 2015 02:57 (nine years ago)

We know that you cannot find a better ostrich boot at twice the price.

challenge accepted

― small doug yule carnival club (unregistered), Saturday, 19 December 2015 03:01 (nine years ago)

I've seen an apple crash but I never seen an ostrich boot hey

― darraghmac, Saturday, 19 December 2015 03:03 (nine years ago)

iPhone 6
no case
B)

― circa1916, Saturday, 19 December 2015 03:18 (nine years ago)

i ~live alone in an apartment that could fit two ppl~

― mookieproof, Saturday, 19 December 2015 03:53 (nine years ago)

Rare Wu Tang album. Toxoplasmosis drug license. Court summons papers.

― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Saturday, 19 December 2015 07:43 (nine years ago)

bureau with pot

― miss me belial (crüt), Saturday, 19 December 2015 14:10 (nine years ago)

youth and debt

― INTOXICATING LIQUORS (art), Saturday, 19 December 2015 14:54 (nine years ago)

a job that is difficult to explain

― INTOXICATING LIQUORS (art), Saturday, 19 December 2015 14:57 (nine years ago)

a beard and 4 haircuts a yr

― INTOXICATING LIQUORS (art), Saturday, 19 December 2015 14:59 (nine years ago)

Both good answers

― darraghmac, Saturday, 19 December 2015 15:12 (nine years ago)

eating at red lobster instead of mcdonalds

― rap is dad (it's a boy!), Saturday, 19 December 2015 15:13 (nine years ago)

77 dollars in my wallet

― Mister, would you please help my brony? (WilliamC), Saturday, 19 December 2015 15:18 (nine years ago)

dandruff free hair

― January 1, be the same sh!t as December 31 (snoball), Saturday, 19 December 2015 15:26 (nine years ago)

hair.

― Mark G, Sunday, 20 December 2015 01:00 (nine years ago)

multiples of things

― lute bro (brimstead), Sunday, 20 December 2015 01:04 (nine years ago)

http://i.imgur.com/FbDxJLa.jpg

― small doug yule carnival club (unregistered), Sunday, 20 December 2015 01:04 (nine years ago)

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