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Comment by frutiger | Hacker News Reader

This entire comment is actually signalling status.

Yes, making sure to fill up the oil before loading two kids into the rusty, 19 year old, 235K mile CR-V to drive 750 miles to see their grandparents, while trying to not have someone break in and steal their stuff.

High status, conspicuous consumption, gram-worthy life, indeed.

Yeah actually. The key is the phrase "why do you still drive cars like this?" It's not because you have to, but because you are signaling that a car as a status signal is irrelevant to you. That's actually the next level status signal :)

It's probably driven much more from being an optimizing engineer (alternatively phrased: a cheapskate) and wanting to spend as little as feasible on reliable transport in order to funnel more money into retirement savings/financial independence.

https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-si...

Not taking a side, but to understand the comment you are replying to, you would do well to look up the concept of countersignalling.

Does counter-signaling require intent or only action?

A. If I care what people think, but work to communicate that I don't, that's pretty obviously counter-signaling.

B. If I genuinely don't care what people think, but my actions are outwardly indistinguishable from those in A, is that counter-signaling?

This sounds equivalent to "Is signaling about the signal-giver or the signal-recipient?"

Indeed it does. If I practice haruspicy*, in so doing am I receiving signals from the gods?

* - the inspection of the entrails of sacrificed animals

It might be signalling status, but I don't think it's fair to assume that was the motive of its author.

Of course, so is your comment here :-) (and mine, too)

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