To Be Bourgie or Not To Be Bourgie?

This morning I was called ‘bourgie’ by my buddy SingleBlackMale. I can’t even recall how we got on the subject of him thinking I was bourgie, but it had something to do with me telling him that I considered his corn-beef out of a can, a ‘poor man’s meal’ & that it smells like dog food. Sue me. I don’t like meat out of a can. He then went on his tirade on how bourgie he thought I was. I wanted to tell him, if he couldn’t spell the correct term, than he shouldn’t be using it in the first place. Let him tell it, I’m bourgie because I don’t eat corn beef out of a can and because of my list of “You Don’t Expect Me To Eat That, Do you?” foods. I was steadily waiting for him to go for the gusto and say, “Oh and you talk ‘white’”, but he didn’t dare go there.

Being called bourgie is nothing new to me. Hell, even some of my own family members throw the term at me occasionally. What I find funny is that I truly don’t consider myself to have any type bourgeoisie attitude. I don’t walk around with my noise stuck up in the air, I don’t try to size people up in regards to where they live, what they have and how much money they make. I’m far from the high-society and tea at noon women. Although I may consider myself a little above average, I never consider other people below average. I believe everyone is basically dealt certain cards in life, and they have to play the hand they’ve been dealt. If anything, I’d call myself picky.

When you look up the term ‘bourgie’ in the Urban Dictionary here is what you find:

1.	bougie	494 up, 106 down
	Aspiring to be a higher class than one is. Derived from bourgeois – meaning middle/upper class, traditionally despised by communists. When my friend Miya wears a blazer or Lucy gets a massage I call them bougie cause we’re unemployed college students. by indi Jun 23, 2004 share this add comment
2.	Bougie	179 up, 30 down
	Adjective meaning extravagent, often to the point of snobbery. Usually used in relation to the conspicuous consumption of the urban upper-middle class. Dervived from “bourgeoisie” “What kind of chips are those?” “Organic Parmesan Oregeno with Olive Oil, they’re 4 dollars a bag” “Man those are bougie chips” bougy snob bourgeois welfare poorhouse by keats04 Nov 20, 2006 share this add comment
3.	bougie	96 up, 19 down
	adj. Anything that is percieved as “upscale” from a blue-collar point of view. ‘Bougie’ (pronounced boo’-she) is a hacked truncation of the word Bourgeoisie, which refers to the middle-class in Europe, but refers to a more affluent class level in the United States. From Wikipedia.org: In the United States, which lacks strict social classes, Bourgeoisie is sometimes used to refer to those seen as being upper class. You can sit there and drink your bougie-ass microbrewed beer, but I still prefer my ice cold Coors original. Did ya see Luthur just roll up in his bougie new BMW? You can eat your bougie $25.99 salad from Central Market for lunch, but I’m hangin’ with Mikky D’s!

I remember over hearing a conversation two women were having and one of them threw the term ‘bourgie’ around, but it was in reference to a white person. I almost had to keep myself from laughing out loud when of the women went on to say, “Well, white people can’t be bourgie”. That had to be the funniest comment I’ve heard in a while because the term bourgeoisie was originally used in reference to Europeans. But nowadays, it’s mostly black people, who in my opinion, misuse and throw it around aimlessly.

Here is list of reasons why people have called me ‘bourgie’:

• I won’t eat canned meat, hot dogs or anything remotely close to it. (an ode to Single Black Male, who by his own definition would be truly bourgie because he loves water crackers & caviar!)
• A white guy once called me bourgie b/c I told him I prefer The Cheese Cake Factory, instead of Applebees. I mean seriously, maybe I just wanted a piece of cheese cake that day?
• I occasionally get the “Oh, you talk so proper, like a white girl”. This always made me laugh, because after years of speech therapy as a kid and public speaking classes in high school and college, I can’t help it if I know how to conjugate verbs in English and French. But to make people happy, every once in a while I’ll throw in a double negative and some shit, damn & mother fuckers.
• I prefer shopping at the Gap, H&M, Banana Republic, J. Crew and stores of that nature. You will never catch me in any Dereon, Baby Phat or any other clothing line that has big ass labels as part of the design. I prefer to keep it simple and not flashy.

Yes, the randomness above is what I’ve heard from people, and yes, as dumb as they sound to you, they sound even dumber actually hearing them first hand. According to Single Black Male, I’m bourgie, but I highly think that’s the case. But if there are any single ladies out there, he’s looking for a ‘bourgie’ girl, who’ll eat sushi one night and risk getting shot & killed while waiting for some take-out in SE, DC. If that’s you, shoot him an email! Until then, I’m not bourgie, that’s my word & I’m sticking to it!

Tags: blak, bourgeoisie, bourgie, chik, fungke, fungkeblakchik, singleblackmale