Tacky! Tacky! Tacky!

Tacky! Tacky! Tacky!

by Deborah Fagan Carpenter

I’ve had to moderate my Facebook activity lately because it causes my already clogged arteries to constrict. But, yesterday I was scrolling through my feed, when I came upon a comment from someone relating to the dismissal — via Twitter — of a high-level government official. The comment read: “That’s just tacky.” What a spot-on and delightfully southern comment!

The South has impacted the world with our extraordinary food, music, and writing, but the word “tacky” may be one of our more heroic contributions. It’s a descriptive — definitely southern in origin — word that covers a lot of ground unquestionably and succinctly. Pat Conroy said, “It’s impossible to explain to a Yankee what ‘tacky’ is. They simply have no word for it up north, but my God, do they ever need one.” Everybody everywhere needs one!

Tacky might be used occasionally elsewhere, but chances are, the person who says it is a transplanted southerner. You may have to either live in the South or originate from the South to have a total understanding of its gist and appreciation for its versatility. Even we southerners can’t offer an absolute definition of tacky, because what’s a better way to describe “tacky,” than “tacky.”

It’s not an all-purpose word as, for example, “Prego” in Italian, which can mean anything from “You’re welcome,” to “Come in,” to “How can I help you,” to “After you.” No, it’s more specific to something, or someone that’s — well  — offensive.

The word may have gotten its start as a result of the Marsh Tacky horses of South Carolina, which were considered to have a “lack of breeding” and weren’t of “high quality.” It became a description that aristocratic southerners used to refer to “poor whites.” It evolved, however, to refer to vulgarity as it relates to words or actions, and of course, style and lifestyle.

It’s definitely handy for criticizing someone’s clothing or decorating style, which to the “criticizer” might be considered in poor taste, garish, gaudy, cheap, tawdry, loud, flashy, showy, or trashy. To a true southerner though, it’s fine to think that someone’s outfit is tacky, but, to openly disparage someone’s outfit would be the ultimate tacky.

Anyway, clothing and decorating styles are so much more liberated, that yesterday’s tacky is today’s, fun and fashionable. Our own musical icon, Elvis was the King of Rock ‘n Roll and also the “King of Tacky.” But, 42 years after his death, a trip to see the “Jungle Room” or the pool room in Graceland would be far less alarming than it would have been when he first had them decorated. Tacky, but fun?

A couple of style directives strictly adhered to in the South is one: it’s tacky to wear white before Easter or after Labor Day, and two: aside from wedding rings, it’s tacky to wear diamonds before dark. Those trivial rules were pretty much ingrained in the psyches of women of my generation, but, mercifully, they’re — especially the one about white —becoming passé.

One thing that I personally think should be placed center stage in the category of tacky is bathroom television commercials regarding  toilet paper and air freshener. At the top of that list is those horrible bears, whom I plan to remove as soon as I become queen. How else could you possibly describe that offensive advertising gimmick but tacky?

Tacky is an irreplaceable, multi-use, charming, southern word. It’s essential for subtly — or not so subtly — criticizing style, fashion, or television commercials, and it’s indispensable for labeling rude, crude, appalling, ill-mannered, uncouth, basically “unfortunate” behavior.

Images: Deborah Fagan Carpenter