Friday, January 25, 2008

Woes of Gentrification UPDATED

A close relative of the First World Problem is the Woe of Gentrification. An example would be the barista of a hip coffee bar complaining that the neighborhood is getting too upscale. Another would be using the fact that a French bistro is closing to signal that the gentry have arrived. In other words, a woe of gentrification occurs whenever someone uses the term 'gentrification' or insinuations thereof to denote the arrival of a cafe or shop he happens not to care for--or the closing of one of his haunts-- in a neighborhood that was already charming and expensive.

UPDATE

Not sure if this counts, but comparing restaurant sushi to "ghetto sushi from Whole Foods" has an air of woes-of-gentrification about it. It's all about the shifted scale on which the new slums are all areas except 5th and Park Avenues and the new diet of the poor includes an $8 lunch.

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