Hear, hear! Excellent exposition. I entirely concur. J.A.P.
On 10 November 2011 14:17, Deepa Mohan <[email protected]> wrote: > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Venkat Mangudi <[email protected]> > Date: Thu, Nov 10, 2011 at 1:57 PM > Subject: Re: [silk] Query on Indian-made wines > To: [email protected] > > > ** My previous mail does not imply Charles is a wine snob. :) sorry, > Charles. Just that wines have matured in India. > > Well, Charles certainly qualified his statement with "As of when I left a > few years ago". And just because some of us don't like some (or all) Indian > wines, doesn't mean that others can't like them. > > I don't see anything wrong with liking the cheapest and most plonky wine > in the supermarket...as long as one is quite confident about it. It's only > when there is a need to be "right" instead of standing by one's likes and > dislikes, that the snobbery element creeps in. If only we could phrase "XYZ > is hopeless to drink/eat/watch/experience" as "I don't personally like > XYZ"...but I also think it's implied in the statement that it is one's > opinion. > > Alas, it is easier to don the mantle of superior knowledge and experience > by being dismissive of something ( anything, not just wine)..I find that > often people mistake self-confident snobbery for actual knowledge. Being > dismissive or "damning with faint praise" is also more witty. > > How do I feel if something I like (er, for example, rhododendron juice, > which I saw advertised in the Garhwal region) and someone else dismisses > it? I have several options....ignore the opinion, and stick to my choice; > protest against the opinion, and stick up for my choice; or quietly > "change" my preferences. The third option makes me a snob, as much as the > person who says that what s/he doesn't like is actually not good. > > > -- J. Alfred Prufrock "Gliding wrapt in a brown mantle, hooded I do not know whether a man or a woman - But who is that on the other side of you?"
