"We're just ordinary folk" - Classic or Dud?

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As expressed by Billy Liar's mother in the letter that Billy never sends to the housewives' choice radio request show.

Is labelling oneself 'ordinary' a healthy sign that you one is at peace with life and not an egomaniac, or is it a miserable prostration to the status quo, to the idea that people should know their place? Does it make a difference if it's one's family or just oneself that one is talking about? Does it make a difference what class you come from?

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 11:02 (twenty-two years ago)

"we're just ordinary sword-swallowing folk"

― mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 11:03 (twenty-two years ago)

what's 'healthy' about being 'at peace with life'?

― dave q, Wednesday, 16 July 2003 11:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Doesn't this phrase mean "we subscribe to all the prejudices and herding instinct of the lowest common denominator"?

― Mark C (Mark C), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 11:12 (twenty-two years ago)

"We're not too keen on being found out"

― nestmanso (nestmanso), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 14:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Here's a review I wrote like 2 yrs ago:

Gary Allan
ALRIGHT GUY
(MCA Nashville)

By the time Gary Allan reminds what a trustworthy, average fellow he
is (about halfway through the disc's 11 songs), the swindle becomes
fairly obvious.
Normal people don't dwell on their normalcy. That's what makes them
normal. They worry about paying rent, feeding children, not getting
fired and, perhaps that most normal trait of all, they worry that
they're not normal. The only people who make a big deal about being
normal are politicians, incompetent spies, and people trying to sell
you something you don't need.
And you don't need Gary Allan's ALRIGHT GUY. In his defense, he may
have confuse average with mediocre, for he has a well above average
degree of mediocrity. Which, of course, means that he'll find great
success in that doomed Bizarro World of Country Radio.
Sure, he pays lip service to the great Willie Nelson--or rather the
fellow who actually wrote "What Would Willie Do" (of the 11 songs,
Allan only has a third of a writing credit on one of them) pays lip
service--but that really doesn't amount to anything. Unless, of
course, you like lip service.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 16 July 2003 15:31 (twenty-two years ago)

I know Gary, and that review really got to him. He's ditched the whole 'ordinary' schtick now and wears Sylvester and Tweetie Pie socks instead!

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 17 July 2003 10:13 (twenty-two years ago)

"Doesn't this phrase mean "we subscribe to all the prejudices and herding instinct of the lowest common denominator"?"

No, it means "we don't subscribe to any of the prejudices and herding instinct of the ideologue."

― sb, Thursday, 17 July 2003 10:33 (twenty-two years ago)

It can go hand in hand with the bluntness thing as discussed yesterday.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Thursday, 17 July 2003 10:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Horace, that's a corker of a review.

― colin s barrow (colin s barrow), Thursday, 17 July 2003 10:41 (twenty-two years ago)

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