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9 Unpopular Opinions I Totally Stand By

9 Unpopular Opinions I Totally Stand By
Carly Jacobs

I asked my followers on Instagram (I’m @smaggle there BTW) last week what content they wanted to see more of on Smaggle. ‘Random life musings’ was a very popular choice so I thought I’d kick it old school style and do an opinion piece here on the ol’ blog. I don’t do light-hearted opinion pieces very often anymore, mainly because there’s always someone who will take it way too seriously and get offended if I suggest, for example, that anyone who likes pineapple on pizza is sure to have serial killer tendencies. Obviously, I was joking, Greg. You’re getting a little bit too defensive about your disgusting pizza.

It’s a been a while since I had a proper argument with anyone on the internet, so I thought it was about time I stirred the pot a little. I was watching a show the other day when one of the characters said ‘Unpopular opinion alert: Avocado tastes like rotten butter!’

I actually love avocado so I completely disagreed with her but I thought the idea of an unpopular opinion post was rad.

Here are some unpopular opinions I hold dear…

unpopular opinion

1. The beach sucks in summer

It’s hot, there are people everywhere, sand gets in all your holes, you can never find a parking spot and the toilets are miles away and disgusting. I’d much rather sit in my own shady backyard where there’s a fridge and clean toilet within my sight line. If someone suggested a summer day at the beach to me 15 years ago, I’d go and hate it. Now? You go and have fun. I’ll be here in the air con with a book and an ice cold glass of sav blanc.

The beach in winter? Majestic. Add a scarf, a takeaway coffee and a decent podcast and it’s just about my ideal scenario. I might even dip my toes in the water. Then later I’ll snuggle down in bed and appreciate how not sunburned and full of sand I am.

2. Tapas is overrated 

And so is degustation. Any restaurant experience that involves expensive, tiny plates of food is wasted on me. I like food and trying fancy things but I find the whole small morsel style dining experience so frustrating. For a start, I eat really fast. So I’ll wolf down my single scallop and tiny smear of caviar foam in 2 seconds and then I’m left sitting waiting for the next bite of food that always seems to take another full half hour to appear. Secondly, it never seems to be enough food and I always leave feeling hungry. It probably IS a full meal worth of food but if you take 3 hours to eat it, you’re due for another meal. Paying $200 for a slow, tiny dinner is my worst nightmare. I’d rather go for a $15 bowl of laksa, buy a new pair of shoes and save myself three hours.

3. The Princess Bride is a very average movie  

The Princess Bride fans – calm your farm. This movie is only good if you watched it 50 times as a child. If you watch it as an adult for the first time, it’s pretty dull. Added note to The Princess Bride fans – If you’re making someone watch this movie for the first time, quoting all your favourite lines as the actor is saying them does not add to the experience. In fact, it makes it worse.

4. Spiders are fine and so are snakes 

As long I don’t have a spider the size of my face running at me or a snake snapping at my heels, I’m fine. If there’s a huge spider in the corner of the room, I’m cool. He can do his thing and I can do mine. I don’t love seeing snakes in the wild but if they’re just slithering along minding their own business, that’s grand. As long as they don’t try to bite me (and so far none of them have), we’re chill. Let us co-exist freely my persecuted little friends. Also pet snakes are awesome and so are the people who have them. Invite me over to your house please.

5. Summer is the worst

Who enjoys it when you can’t breathe because the air so hot and your thighs chafe from simply sitting in the car? When your head feels like it’s full of cement because you’ve been in an overly airconditioned office all week? You need to break out the industrial strength deodorant because you stink all the time? Forget sleep. Your body temperature won’t be low enough for those shenanigans until Autumn. I do think my hatred for summer is very much an Australian thing because our summers are brutal. I’m particularly angry at summer this year because I had a newborn baby I couldn’t leave the house with because she would have cooked in the car/carrier/pram. I don’t need it to be above 25 degrees ever. Anything you do on a 30-degree day – go swimming, go to an airconditioned movie, have a picnic, run under the sprinkler – you can do on a 25-degree day much more comfortably.

6. Will Ferrell isn’t funny  

I don’t hate Will Ferrell but his comedy chops are one dimensional. He just shouts all the time.

7. Jelly is gross and so are ice cream floats 

I want to like jelly. It seems like such a fun treat but every time I eat it, I experience a world of regret. The texture, the flavour. It’s all bad. Same with ice cream floats or as we call them in Australia ‘spiders’. To me, it’s a waste of ice cream and Coke. Just give me a glass of Coke and a bowl of ice cream and I’ll consume one, then I’ll consume the other. I don’t need to ruin a perfect scoop of ice cream by dunking it in a glass of Coke. It gets all scummy and it separates like curdled cream. Vom.

8. Nickelback don’t deserve all the hate they get 

I did some very basic research on this phenomenon and it seems that ‘basic’ is the answer. People hate them because they’re basic. They lack depth. I’m not overly familiar with their music but sure, I’ll agree that their waters don’t run super deep but since when has that been a barrier to success? It seems like a good old fashioned case of tall poppy syndrome coupled with mob mentality. For some reason, it’s cool to think Nickelback suck and I reckon it’s a bit mean and unnecessary.

unpopular opinion

9. Cooking dinner isn’t that bad 

I’m not a foodie and I don’t particularly enjoy cooking but I cook dinner almost every night and it’s never really been a chore I feel deserves the vitriol it gets. Most people complain daily about having to cook dinner or they hate it so much they spend hundreds of dollars on takeaway and meal kit deliveries to try to avoid it. Not cooking dinner is a multi-million dollar industry and I don’t really get it. I’m an adult – I’ve been cooking dinner almost every night for close to 20 years and it’s just not that big a deal. It’s no different to brushing my teeth, making the bed or having a shower. It’s just a thing I do to make sure I don’t die of starvation.

And just to cause further outrage to those who disagree with me, I also haven’t seen the original Mary Poppins movie. As you were.

Do you have any unpopular opinions? Care to share?

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21 Comments

  1. Steph 6 years ago

    I agree, summer is just awful. I love the beach in winter and it is amazing in autumn. It’s comfortable on the beach and there are warm currents in the water so swimming is delightful. And yes, jelly is THE WORST. It looks so pretty but the texture is absolutely repulsive. Jelly lollies are similarly gross.

  2. Janette 6 years ago

    Oops. I agree with all your opinions except Nickelback (don’t think I could name a single song). The beach one had me nodding like a bobble head.

    One of my own… tattoos of your own birth date on your back. What is the point?

    • Alison P 6 years ago

      Could be useful if you ever get amnesia ¯\_(?)_/¯

  3. Jac 6 years ago

    Pretty much I’m with you on those Carly. I’ve never actually given Nickleback any thought, but I agree 120% re the beach. 80% re the spiders because they have a habit of moving out of their designated corner of the room and roaming around. 90% on the cooking dinner thing, I actually generally like cooking but I have 3 kids and cooking for a team is a different game to cooking for a couple, making meals that all of you are happy to eat does start to get tiresome. You might find your views on the dinner thing shift when you have to start trying to get real food into Harriett. On baby food – my advice is don’t bother. I didn’t for #3 she just sat on my husbands lap, grabbed at his food and shoved it in. I think this now goes by the fancy name of baby led weaning, but I just couldn’t be bothered making food that I knew from experience wouldn’t be eaten. At 10 she now eats nearly anything including really spicy curries, she also still sits on Dads lap and steals his food – baby girl has him wrapped around her little finger. #1 who I did the usual first child organic steamed blah blah fussing over ate none of it and is still a pain in the A that complains about anything with more flavour than weet-bix.

    • Ruth 6 years ago

      I so agree with the family dinner thing, 21 years of it here and it is a chore and a bore. Getting better now they are older and eldest has pretty much taken over, so there’s light at the end of the tunnel. Love your idea of letting kids eat off your plate!

  4. Alison P 6 years ago

    I agree with you on many things, but this is not a list I can abide by (except 2 & 9)! I’m halfway with you on the beach in summer – I hate going in the middle of the day for all your listed reasons, but beach in the late afternoon/early evening is divine, especially on a weekday (and winter beach is also ace). My unpopular opinion – Coldplay is actually really great!

  5. Charmaine 6 years ago

    I love the beach during the cooler months too, the peace and quiet to contemplate and just be. Totally agree Will Ferrel is not funny at all.

  6. Steph 6 years ago

    Will Ferrel is sooo not funny but I feel that way about most of the famous slack stick actors. I don’t like most Jim Carey, Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Seth Rogan etc movies. Yup, everyone mob me now!!
    I also don’t get princess bride, same with the never ending story! I really think its true about most childhood/ teen movies though, if you didn’t see and love it originally you really won’t get it 20 years later. My ultimate movie is 10 things i hate about you but ive tried to get people to watch that with me that didn’t see it as a teenager and they don’t get it! Sad face ?

    My most unpopular opinion is that I hate Game of Thrones, sorry not sorry!

    And I really don’t love Tim Tams even though I live for chocolate!

  7. Mykki 6 years ago

    I read The Princess Bride as a kid but never saw the movie until I grew up and realized I had a serious crush on Cary Elwes. Also, mad respect for the directing style of Mel Brooks.

    So I’m the rare breed that never saw The Princess Bride OR Labyrinth until I was an adult and I feel like I have a different appreciation for them because of that. 🙂

    • Mykki 6 years ago

      My bad, Rob Reiner directed that one. Another favorite – so I got them mixed up!

  8. Cheney 6 years ago

    My brother was devastated when his wife thought The Princess Bride was lame after they watched it together. Had to explain that us watching it every weekend as kids meant we had no choice but to love it. My unpopular opinion is that big group dinners out are a suckfest. Someone will be unhappy with the menu, getting everyone to order at the same time is a nightmare and you’re stuck talking to the same one or two people the whole time so it’s not a great catch-up. Then you have to figure out whether to split the bill evenly, which makes the people who ordered a salad and water angry at the wine drinkers, or everyone puts in for what they ate and half the table forgets about shared appetisers and doesn’t chuck in for a tip. Unless it’s a banquet menu, or pay-at-the-counter bistro, I’m out.

    • Melanie Lindner 6 years ago

      Agree on the group dinner thing, especially when it’s organised by your more affluent / foodie friends who think it’s perfectly reasonable to insist you pay $100 a head for a set menu full of things you or your partner won’t eat PLUS drinks on top. And of course you’ll need to pay a fortune for a cab home because it’s some cute new place they want to try on the complete opposite side of town.

      • Cheney 6 years ago

        Totally! That’s why small groups are better – it’s much easier picking something everyone’s happy with when there’s only four of you. I gave up after trying to find a restaurant to please both vegan and paleo diet-eating friends. I told them if they wanted to see me in a group again, we could have a movie night. BYO snacks.

  9. Kathryn OHalloran 6 years ago

    Totally with you on the beach thing.

    I hate Krispy Kremes (is that the right name for them?) I’ve only tried them once and it was such a gross experience. A few ppl have told me if I tried them again, I might acquire the taste but I have no need to do. It’s not like they are an essential food item.

    I used to think I hated cooking dinner but I now realise I hate deciding what to cook. If I have a menu with limited choices, I’m fine but when I could cook anything, I blank out.

    • Skye 6 years ago

      Krispy creme in the US, when you drive by and they have their “fresh donut” sign flashing are fantastic! Here? Meh. Down here in Tassie people like to bring them back from the Melbourne airport…double meh to multiple day old donuts…

  10. Katy 6 years ago

    With u on Krispy Kreams, they are gross

  11. Missy D 6 years ago

    Haha, so with you on beaches in summer, summer in general and cooking dinners. Totally disagree on tapas (I’d say I’m a foodie) and spiders – they should die. 😉

    One of my unpopular opinions is that ironing is just not that bad. So many of my friends complain about it and refuse to buy clothes that need ironing… but I live in Queensland so I ain’t buying synthetic clothing to sweat in all day. Natural fibres means you need to iron, and I don’t think it’s as terrible a job as everyone makes out. I put on some podcasts and smash it out all in one go, don’t have to iron every day then.

  12. Skye 6 years ago

    I’ve never read nor watched Harry Potter, Lord of the rings, the viking stuff or starwars. I do however like to stir the pot and I love telling die hard fans of this fact. Just to see their looks of disbelief. LOL

    Married at first sight? Watching other people set them selves up for failure on a show designed to make them fail, no thank you. any thing that sends couples to an island full of hot horny people trying to wreck their existing relationships, double no thank you!

    Big events that I have to queue to get into, queue for the toilet, queue for a drink, queue to leave and then spend the duration of the event standing up? After paying gazillions of dollars for the tickets? Kill me now!. However, if I can take a picnic chair and wear comfy clothes, yes please!

    Oh I could go on and on…I’m basically an early onset nana.

  13. Rianna 6 years ago

    All bar one of your opinions are my opinions, too (snake & spider phobic here). I have seen Mary Poppins, but I don’t enjoy it, you’re not missing out. I don’t have an issue with cooking dinner, but I do hate doing dishes, so I embrace the ‘cook once, eat multiple leftovers’ philosophy. I’m the weird one that doesn’t like avocado, too. After reading this list and the comments, I realise that unpopular is not the same as invalid; if I look around there are others out there that agree with me ?

  14. Juni 5 years ago

    Yay for autumn beaches and Laksa. Which for now reason I understand is almost unknown here. It’s tragic.

  15. Kya 5 years ago

    I dislike live, outdoor, music-festival-style concerts. The music is loud enough to give you a headache, the singing is off-key, plus everything you said about beaches in summer (totally with you there). I don’t understand why everyone else I know loves them so much–that music just sounds better from a recording in the privacy of your own home or car.

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