The real basic is you
I once read an interview with a recording artist in which she claimed she never went to McDonald's or read Heat because "it's so bad to be basic". Is it? Basic is an interesting word – so evocative and yet covers a lot of bases. And a lot of basics. I find it yucky, but I'm nothing if not a massive hypocrite and have, of course, used it myself here and there. Yet I still puzzle over its meaning. It does seem it's a byword for poor, or less fortunate, or less cultured...