Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-24241449-20131204014043/@comment-24211237-20131204214030

no, its in the lore theyre better, youre just ignorant and hold bias based on skyrim. ill educate your feeble mind on the matter :). the altmer, or high elves as the races of man refer to them as, were the first civilized race on tamriel, they are descended from the aldmer who were the first to hold an empire on temriel. it is said that the aldmer were descended from the Aedra themselves and thus are naturally gifted, and becuase they are naturally gifted to learn things faster and be better at than others and hold themselves on high regard for this

Being the first civilized race they are more evolved and and have a more civilized approach (etiquette) to things and each other, to the lesser races this is viewed as very arrogant, and what others see as arrogance the altmer view as proper manners, thus they are dubbed "High elves". its part of their culture and is viewed in their culture to be right, just like getting piss drunk and trying to fight anyone who looks at you is part of nord culture and is viewed as right in theirs.