Why do we say that someone has "good taste" or "bad taste"?
A person's "taste" is based on his or her set of preferences. We can assume that everyone has a different set of preferences; even those pairs of individuals that seemingly have exactly the same "taste." Though they agree on most things, given an infinite number of choices it is very probable that they will differ in at least some preferences.
Accusing people of having "bad taste" or agreeing that they have "goodtaste" arises when someone notices that another individual prefers or doesn't prefer the same thing as him or her. For example, Tom may own apair of blue tennis shoes. When Tom notices that Jim owns a similar pair he may compliment him on his "good taste." Then when he notices that Bill wears red tennis shoes, which Bill prefers over blue ones, Tom may snicker to Jim that Bill has "bad taste."
However, not all preference disagreements seem to merit the accusationof having "bad taste." For example, Tom may prefer to read the sports section of the newspaper and then read the business section. If Bill prefers to read the business section first, it is not likely that Tom will accuse him of having "bad taste." Tom will merely acknowledgethat they have different preferences.
The following question now arises: when do incongruities in preferences merit the "bad taste" label? It has been my observation that most preferences of this merit are included in "fashion" (i.e.clothes, accessories, interior designing, landscaping), but also extend to things as simple as what books a person likes to read, or what movies they enjoy.
Still, how do we define which preferences are "good" and which are"bad"? This is a tricky situation indeed. After all, when Bill hears that Tom thinks his shoes are not tasteful, he won't suddenly agree, realizing that the shoes he bought are tasteless. In fact, it is more likely that he will defensively accuse Tom of having "bad taste."
It does not appear that there will soon, or ever, be any agreement on a set of "good" preferences. If such were the case, and nobody purchased anything of "bad" taste, there would be no market for anything but tasteful items.
Accusing people of having "bad taste" or agreeing that they have "goodtaste" arises when someone notices that another individual prefers or doesn't prefer the same thing as him or her. For example, Tom may own apair of blue tennis shoes. When Tom notices that Jim owns a similar pair he may compliment him on his "good taste." Then when he notices that Bill wears red tennis shoes, which Bill prefers over blue ones, Tom may snicker to Jim that Bill has "bad taste."
However, not all preference disagreements seem to merit the accusationof having "bad taste." For example, Tom may prefer to read the sports section of the newspaper and then read the business section. If Bill prefers to read the business section first, it is not likely that Tom will accuse him of having "bad taste." Tom will merely acknowledgethat they have different preferences.
The following question now arises: when do incongruities in preferences merit the "bad taste" label? It has been my observation that most preferences of this merit are included in "fashion" (i.e.clothes, accessories, interior designing, landscaping), but also extend to things as simple as what books a person likes to read, or what movies they enjoy.
Still, how do we define which preferences are "good" and which are"bad"? This is a tricky situation indeed. After all, when Bill hears that Tom thinks his shoes are not tasteful, he won't suddenly agree, realizing that the shoes he bought are tasteless. In fact, it is more likely that he will defensively accuse Tom of having "bad taste."
It does not appear that there will soon, or ever, be any agreement on a set of "good" preferences. If such were the case, and nobody purchased anything of "bad" taste, there would be no market for anything but tasteful items.
Due to this improbability I suggest that instead of using "bad taste" to describe a situation such as Bill and Tom's, Tom might say that Bill has different taste, and leave it at that, since that is the only real conclusion that can be drawn.
Note: In all of this discussion, one may argue that "good taste" is that which is most common or popular (i.e. Tom would say that he hasgood taste since 2/3 of the office workers have his preference and only 1/3 have Bill's). However, I'm sure that this person, given enough time to think, will find a case in which one of their preferences is not the most common preference and must then conclude that they also have "bad taste."
