Quality,
the direct opposite of
"Upscale", also known as tacky, tasteless, tawdry,
the lowest of the middle class, yuppy-preppy type . . .
One particular day, while wandering back into work from an errand, I finally noticed a particular car simply because someone was standing near it, where I noticed the person simply because he was standing on a section of sidewalk which I was approaching.
What came to mind After I had walked past the car, and what triggered this thought, is that rather than most "This Is My Car" objects that are left littering the road, and the otherwise Much perferable "Just A Car" which most people just drive, while this car was different from "JAC", this particular vehicle was simply and perfectly Just There.
The creature with which we are most familiar is, of course, often painted bright ticket red, is often added to with hubcaps of a day-glow shade of chrome, that there is a stereo system can be learned by the fairly accurate simulation of a nuclear detonation at ground zero that is emitting from the speakers, and so forth. The other variation of this, customized or not, is that Here Is The Vehicle, which has been acquired under the specious impression that All Will Be In Awe At Its Owner's Presence Because The Owner Is Clearly In Existance Because Of Said Ownership.
This car that I noticed, in contrast, is one of the more sports car than not variety, where I don't even remember nor did I notice what particular kind of car it is; fixation on a type or model of car beyond a specific usage or feature reflects that the one fixating, in short, has no life. What I did notice is that the car is a convertable, painted a deep burgandy, with a small stylized signature of some sort done in white paint on the hood over the right side wheel well. The car has been customized, beyond just the paint job, but at the same time an itemized list would have to be attained to see how---the point was clearly Not to have a list of features which could be cited, but, more properly, to enhance the whole. The whole, as a completed result, is the essence of elegance; that which is, simply for itself, with no extra strings or unneccesary complications that rely on or assume separate concepts.
A relatively recent occurrance of anti-elegance is the quasi word "upscale". From my observations of its usage, the exact meaning of that seems to be "That which is deliberately overpriced, glitzy, tacky, unattractive in use, design, or appearance, see schlock, tawdry." What keeps confusing me is when something, be it clothing, a new restaurant, some latest housing subdivision, is gleefully touted as being *Upscale* and all who learn of this should be . . . I dunno . . . I am impressed and interested in quality, where upscale is apparently not even quantity, judging from the examples of "restaurants" serving "meals" which amount to one and a half bits of finger food and a glass of wine, with a bill in three figures. So why something would be claimed as upscale, with a contextual apparent assumption that hordes of people will rush in as a result of such labelling, is something I have never understood.
Now, an educated guess is that those who emphasize "upscale" are under the impression that by by doing so they can attract and inflate random personal egos whose owners are incapable of thinking for themselves, who fantasize that by being "upscale" they will have others admiring and wishing to be like them . . . which wanders back into where if one simply seeks and emulates quality, one can achieve without relying on external sources of that which is "upscale" or those who allegedly have admiring or envious reactions to same . . . .
The car which I noticed, I did simply notice after walking past it, after I had first seen it. It is elegant and sufficient unto itself and is so without requiring that one ego or another be involved.
I find that egos are messy and inefficient things, and I prefer to do what I can to not cultivate one. At the same time, I like to seek feedback from others regarding same, to confirm that one thing or another is occurring as it should be, without extranious BS that complicates interrupts things . . . and yes, as should anyone, all such feedback gets to get weighed against itself, so as to differentiate actual feedback from ego laden demands for admiration or obesience from another . . . .
Yes, there *Is* the matters of wanting to master a skill, wanting to have a good . . . house, car, pick your item, simply becuase such is good to have, to do, whatever, regardless of the thoughts or reactions of another. In stating with certainty "I am a Master of Dance, I Do speak four languages, I Am an excellent cook, I Do get fed by an excellent cook, I Do live in such a neighborhood, and these are certain facts", such is not inflating an ego, this Is quality, is the reverse of "upscale",
Yes, I Do rather prefer not having to deal with those who apparently are nothing But ego, and their "upscale" additions of a particular costume, or vehicle, or belief, and their assumptions of the additions they fantasize that I should have, so as to support their additions, and so on . . . . . .
© Cassiel