“Signalling”

I’d never heard of this saying so looked it up, and yes it’s brilliant. On Wiki I saw a lovely picture of a plaque illustrating the saying at Duddingston Kirk, Edinburgh.

"We are all Jock Tamson's bairns" is a lovely saying and has a great back story too.

jacq10 That Scottish saying is a good one too.

Hallelujah for common sense prevailing!

It is underrated!!?

Glamma, that's magic, thankyou x

annsixty some of the responses on the threads which you may think are wealth signalling are quite funny, so persevere!

Kate149 - liked your sister's comment (still going out in a box like the rest of us. Reminded me of a Scottish saying "*We're all Jock Tamson's Bairns*" which those of us from Scotland may well remember. Like another poster way back I wasn't too informed about "signalling" before I started reading this thread but I never thought that's what GN posters were about. Like Annsixty I am sad at the moment but would thank her for this post. I would also like to thank GrandmaFrench for her post and many others she has given us recently about her life in France and also Urmstongran with her photos and posts of Spain over the past few months.

Thanks all of you for the kind words - I'm just thrilled that so many feel the same. I was beginning to panic a little that we'd have to submit future applications in quadruplicate for consideration, should anyone feel the urge to buy a new toaster or some garden pots - let alone a lipstick or some new knickers. But no. It seems that all is well, common sense has prevailed and Grans can be Grans, continuing to lead fearless lives and finding any little giddy fun whenever they can. Heaven knows, we all need it now. Stay safe good people.

Sorry I got muddled (easy for me) what I meant was great post GrandmaFrench!

Me too! Great post Bellasnana.
Thanks EV ! x

GF I really enjoyed reading your balanced post and agree with every word. How refreshing!

And what a wonderful being myself you are EV .

Hahahaha, I just feel lucky that I've still got all my marbles !

I couldn't care less what others have at all and I'm always thrilled to see pics of posters gardens and Urmston's lovely views. Nothing on this earth would make me envious of anyone. I've had it all and given it away ! I can prove it by showing pics to a poster who is a friend and neighbour.

I do like using Oscar Wilde's phrase though----" I have nothing to declare except my genius ". ( oops, boasting ) Nothing else matters apart from a good education to see what makes others tick !
As long as my mind is intact, I'm happy. I haven't much else to offer. I'm happy just being myself.

I think things can be misconstrued as boasting when they aren’t. Saying you have a big garden for example doesn’t have to be boasting just as you don’t have to be poor to be happy.
I do find Gransnet to be quite judgemental and hypercritical and folk overly quick to point out faults.

Thank you GrandmaFrench, very well said.

Well said GrandmaFrench but sadly how different to some on here.

Very good post, GrandmaFrench

There are some lovely posts on GN and lovely posters

Well said GrandmaFrench
And spread a little joy along the way

Lots of good points made GrandmaFrench

You are a classic example of how lovely it is to read about a different life in France, which I often read on the Good Morning thread even though I don’t often post on there often.

Brilliant post GrandmaFrench

Well said GrandmaFrench

Very well said, Oopsminty. At the start I wasn't going to comment on this thread. Quite frankly, initially it made me feel quite sad. But the OP explained that due to feeling down she might have got it wrong. The thread prompted a flood of posts from nice people attempting to justify why they did what they did, spent what they did, or didn't, presumably in an effort not to stand out from anyone else.

How ridiculous. There are so many ways in which we could, if we were feeling down, mean, irritated etc., pick holes in the "doings" of others which are set out on GN - often with humour and real joy on various threads. Why try to discourage posters reporting on aspects of their lives? It will reach a point - as "JenniferEccles" points out - that we'll all be afraid to say anything at all in case it's construed as boasting or wealth signalling. Haven't we already learned enough from the totally ridiculous PC brigade's nonsense?

I would definitely say that I am "a Jones". Not that I want people to keep up with me, but because I'm happy in my own skin and don't mind if anything I do or have is emulated by others. I do my thing. Keeping up with the Jones's is not for me. But I am genuinely interested and happy when others talk about their purchases, their trips, their hobbies, their gardens, their whatever. I'm truly happy for them but never want what they have. If I do ever think "oh how wonderful, wish that was me", then I always tell people that. Envy and jealousy are very ugly traits. Every one of us is different, with different backgrounds, incomes, expenditures, lifestyles and wants and needs. We're all individuals and need to celebrate that, not feel that we have to dumb down or hide aspects of our lifestyles to suit the carping or criticism of others. Work hard for your money, work hard in your lives, shoulder responsibility, raise families and then hopefully get to the stage when you can do things just for you. Surely that's what counts. If not now, when? And you should never have to justify what you do to strangers.

Spread some joy and please don't worry about what others are doing - unless you're going to share in their happiness at being able to do it.

Oopsminty

GGumteenth

Now there's plenty of virtue signalling to be found here but I do my best to ignore it

Except when you "virtue signal" that you are not of that group Oopsminty. Or perhaps it can only ever be done by "other people".

Nonsense

How can one expressing a fact that there's a lot of VS going on here be VS?

Makes no sense

I am in no group on GN

You carry on regardless though

You blame other people but do not see exactly the same fault in yourself. If they are saying something to prove their own virtue what do you think distinguishing yourself from those people is doing?

No surprise at all that you can't see it. Such vicious people on GN who blame nameless others all the time but don't see it in themselves.

I think that is a really good observation Davidhs.
We do “signal” all the time, in the way we show our status to ensure we are socially acceptable? Jobs, cars, houses. Which school/university we went to and so on.

At a more basic level physical appearance and attractiveness. A human response because I guess we all want to “fit in” and am sure evolutionary psychologists will have an explanation for it.

I think the term has been reinvented as a term of passive rebuke. ?

Lots of interesting thoughts and opinions on here.

A while back someone referred to a post where someone said they spent more on flowers in a week than another spent on food.

Isn’t it possible the comment was a joke? This is the problem with saying something here (as well as text messages) that even if comments are accompanied by exclamation marks and a smiley face, it’s not always possible to tell if it should be taken seriously or not.

If we become too worried that we may come across as boastful then people will be reluctant to share any thoughts about how delighted they are with their new car, or excited about a forthcoming foreign holiday, and that would be a great shame.