A viral Twitter thread is asking what's considered trashy if you're poor, but classy if you're rich — and things like donuts, marrying your cousin, and being bilingual are all making the list

Dominic-Madori DavisJul 24, 2020, 00:23 IST

Customers eat cronuts, a croissant-doughnut hybrid, the brain child of French pastry chef Dominique Ansel, at Ansel's bakery shop in New York, June 14, 2013.EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP via Getty Images

A tweet from 2016 went viral again this week, prompting users to answer the question: "What's considered trashy if you're poor, but classy if you're rich?"
Many responded to the post, commenting on how activities such as living with your family are frowned upon for poor people but are seen differently when rich people do them.
The responses, and the fact that the tweet began to trend again, shows the tension Americans are feeling amid the recession and rising income inequality rates in the nation.

This week, a tweet shared in 2016 went viral again. The post, from a Twitter user named Ana Samways, asked people "what's considered trashy if you're poor, but classy if you're rich."

It's unclear why that tweet resurfaced four years later, and the user who posted couldn't be reached for a request for comment from Business Insider. But people have taken to commenting and responding to it all over again, pointing out the glaring differences in how rich people and poor people are perceived today.

And at a time when Jeff Bezos has reportedly made billions since the pandemic started while over 50 million Americans have filed for unemployment as the nation creeps toward another recession, the average person is feeling that inequality more acutely than ever.

Twitter users pointed out how even little things, like being bilingual or eating donuts from an artisanal bakery are considered aspirational for the wealthy, while bilingual people among the masses are often accosted for speaking another language and eating donuts from a gas station or Dunkin' is often considered common or cheap.

And those are only a few of the hundreds of thousands of responses. Here are some of the viral thread's other most noteworthy replies.

One commenter listed several things the rich get praised for while others are shamed, including being bilingual and wearing sportswear in public.

Another pointed out how tiny homes are trendy for the rich, while poor people are shamed for living in "trailer parks."

Someone else took a jab at inherited wealth, linking it to a commonly repeated critique of government benefit recipients.

And another person wrote that rich people regularly get away with "gaming" the government, perhaps referencing things like tax loopholes.

Similarly, one user pointed to government subsidy recipients.

One reply pointed out that some communities are ostracized for marrying relatives, despite the fact that it was very common in royal and aristocratic families for a long time.

Living with parents is also another double standard people pointed out.

One user noted how simple branding changes the perceived quality of making things yourself. Buzzwords like "craft" and "bespoke" essentially act as fancy euphemisms for "homemade," which is often seen as tacky or cheap.

And "protesting" also has another definition when you're poor — "rioting."

Illegal drug use is another double standard pointed out by one Twitter user.

Even not dyeing hair has become fashionable among the rich, while it's seen as a lack of self-care in poor people.

Eating donuts from an artisanal bakery is somehow much more Instagram-worthy than picking up a donut from Dunkin'.

And finally, the most important double standard of them all — wearing leopard print.

Photos show #FreeBritney supporters protesting outside of an LA court during Britney Spears' conservatorship hearing

Cookies on the Business Insider India website