Hoi-tea-toid.

'Sup tea peoples?

Since the time of the last posting, It has been brought to my attention on numerous occasions that I might, in fact, be hoity-toity. I find this topic so important that I feel it necessary to write a full posting on my hoity-toitiness, discussing just what it might mean to be a hoity-toid, and why that just might be a thing of importance for a tea connoisseur such as myself.

In the various discussions that were had about hoity-toitiness, the definition that seems to have been settled on involves declaring that there are varying quality levels that exist in things, and that the hoitey-toid simply recognizes these differences in quality, and actually heeds them to such an extent that he/she feels compelled to seek only the highest quality things.

This is in contrast to the popular definition of hoity-toitiness, which refers to someone who is pompous and does certain things (like using large words) only to flaunt ones status or intellectual merits. I suppose this distinction is, effectively, between an "utility hoitey-toid," and a "synthetic hoity-toid," where the utility hoity-toid uses hoity-toiteyness to achieve a purpose, or serve some specific cause, such as finding the highest quality chocolate, or gaining the ability to detect subtle flavor characteristics in fine chocolates, and the synthetic hoity-toid is a hoity-toid only in the sense that they want to appear overly important, intelligent, or sophisticated.

Largely, the people that actually *are* more sophisticated, intelligent, and important in society are those who have learned how to use utility-based hoity-toiteyness in their favor (although this may not always be the case, as there are certainly plenty of examples of people who are smart and important but fail to be hoity-toids.)

The importance of this sort of utility-based hoity-toideyness to the subject of fine tea is apparent. Without this awareness of the varying quality levels and various, often subtle characteristics that make a certain tea what it is, one could hardly make any sorts of claims regarding actual wisdom or knowledge regarding tea. It seems necessary to be aware of and to be able to make distinctions between these subtle characteristics in order to properly describe a tea, in order to properly rate a tea for quality, and in order to not be conned like mad when purchasing high-quality teas.

In one sense, the utility-based tea hoity-toid is in a better position than most tea drinkers and purchasers, in that the hoity-toid will be able to make better, more informed decisions on the matter, and will ultimately end up with the superior cup of tea at the most reasonable price.

Additionally, it seems preposterous to me to suggest that someone could bring themselves to a point where they could be aware of these varying quality levels and subtle characteristics without admitting to some form of hoity-toitiness. Doing so would require that they simply didn't apply the skills that they have at their disposal, and would result in them being largely ignorant (in the sense that they are simply neglecting known quality concerns) of actual tea-quality.

A similar situation would be for someone to become aware of all of the things that make a football player a good or bad member of the team, and then go to the games, disregard this awareness, and simply cheer for the player who's last name they like the best.

So, that's it for my rant on hoity-toitiness. This probably wasn't your favorite post, but I'm OK with that.

Over and out,
Relz