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How do gransetters define being "posh"?

(124 Posts)
jack Sat 24-Mar-12 16:35:40

I strayed into Mumsnet the other day and was amazed to find a very busy thread all about being "posh". The girls are certainly working each other up but the consensus seems to be that if you have lots of wet dogs in the back of your car and you still call your parents Mummy and Daddy then you're "posh".

My view is that if you feel the need to use the word "posh" at all, then you are not posh.

Any views on the subject?

nelliedeane Sun 25-Mar-12 21:27:05

Iam not posh but do have standards,manners being one of them,I feel my nose pointing skywards at 'chavvie' behaviour,chavvie being defined as wearing tracksuits/hoodies lots of chunky gold jewellery,fake tan typically 'essex',I have an Essex upbringing myself,and not particlarly well educated,but I suppose as my nickname Is Hyacinth Bouquet could Posh be to do with attitude and not class as I do not wish to be associated with 'chavvie' behaviour,I do not use serviettes or napkins,but I dont dribble or put my elbows on the table or talk with my mouth full either....do you I could be an oxymoron....grin

Jacey Sun 25-Mar-12 21:27:28

I was told it was common to wear an ankle bracelet hmm

And lavatory/toilet ...I was told that lavatory was the traditional English name (of course the National Trust still use the term), whereas toilet was a corrupted French word that people used to show they were better confused

Anagram Sun 25-Mar-12 21:32:54

Yes, the ankle bracelet, along with tattoos, meant the woman in question was no lady (or was one 'of the night'!) according to Granny....

jeni Sun 25-Mar-12 21:33:20

And they should be silver or silver plated, as that does not take on the 'taint' of the fish!
I actually have a complete set of all cutlery for 12 people! Including coffee spoons and fish eaters!
Does this make me posh?
NO WAY!
I have friends who are gardners, judges, doctors, cleaners, care assistants!
Nobody has ever accused ME of being posh!
Being posh is thinking YOU are superIor to others! If you think you are superior, you're not!
Sorry if I've ranted, but I do feel very strongly, that folk should not be stereotyped by occupation or habits!

harrigran Mon 26-Mar-12 00:25:42

I have my parents fish knives and forks but have put them in the attic because the bone handles will not survive the dishwasher. I have steak knives and forks too and they are always used. My mother considered it common to eat in the street and chewing gum was strictly forbidden, I never tasted it until I was an adult. I think pleb or chav is probably the modern common.

Annika Mon 26-Mar-12 15:15:57

My DH told everyone he only married me because my family had BBC2 ( a new channel then !) and his family only had BBC1 and ITV so he thought we were posh and that he would be marrying into money wink
He soon found out that was not the case sad

Annobel Mon 26-Mar-12 16:21:20

Chav seems to be the derogatory term of choice among the younger members of my family. There's an informative article on Wiki.

petallus Mon 26-Mar-12 16:42:30

Eton schoolboys like to say oik!

Who says the class war is a thing of the past?

Anagram Mon 26-Mar-12 17:06:39

Somehow, chavvy doesn't have the same meaning to me as common, but I'm struggling to think of an alternative. Perhaps there isn't one!

JessM Mon 26-Mar-12 17:23:17

Did you notice today that one has "supper" in Downing Street. Dinner are things they have out. As in: I am going to the IOD Dinner.

Annobel Mon 26-Mar-12 17:31:07

Anagram, I think all chavs are 'common'; not sure you have to be a chav to be common though!

wotsamashedupjingl Mon 26-Mar-12 17:49:21

Are you still married to him Annika?!!! wink

wotsamashedupjingl Mon 26-Mar-12 17:53:17

Annobel I ate in one of those Henley Regatta marquees once. The Leander one.

It was horrible. Hated every moment!

Too posh!!! grin

Annika Mon 26-Mar-12 17:58:23

wotsamaashedupjingl* Yes he still thinks I have some money hidden some where the fool wink

wotsamashedupjingl Mon 26-Mar-12 18:00:56

grin

johanna Mon 26-Mar-12 18:47:14

Does anyone remember the Queen Mum being rushed to hospital with a fishbone stuck in her throat?....... I wonder which type of cutlery was used.

Jess, "supper" seems to be everywhere now, not just in Downing Street.
I have an old dear in my village who always asks people for suppaahh.

Thereby implying to come for a light meal. Whether she realises that, I don't know.

One's main meal of the day is always called dinner!!
At what ever time of the day!

Love inviting people for Sunday Dinner.................
At midday, ..ofcourse.

Anagram Mon 26-Mar-12 18:51:25

Sunday dinner at midday is too early for me...same with Christmas dinner (or lunch). Both are usually around 3 o'clock in this house - although I don't think that's got anything to do with poshness or the lack thereof! grin

Charlotta Mon 26-Mar-12 21:21:35

We learned at grammar school that you start with the knives and forks furthest away from your plate and work inwards.
Table manners are still important and I drill my GCs. I once had lunch in some sort of grand Hall and there was a professor just shovelling food in his mouth with his head over the plate. I was shocked!
I don't allow my GCs to behave like that and my daughters are more than pleased to say. 'Do as Grandma says and place your knife and fork together when you've finished eating' or what ever else I have suggested.
This would probably not work with a DIL.
In Yorkshire we have tea at 6 p.m and down South that is supper. A warm meal at lunchtime can be called dinner but I believe a posh dinner would be later at 8 p.m.

bagitha Tue 27-Mar-12 06:41:57

I learned that too, but I don't think table manners are about which order one uses the cutlery. Etiquette is not the same as politeness. I'm not sure I'd notice if people used cutlery in the wrong order and if I did I wouldn't care, but I would care if they started eating before everyone was seated or if they were so self-engrossed not to pass things to other people.

bagitha Tue 27-Mar-12 06:42:57

Hmm. Is that the difference then? Poshness is perhaps more about etiquette than real politeness.

JessM Tue 27-Mar-12 07:39:37

I was once in a posh restaurant. The sort where they bring your food under a shiny dome. For once the pudding/dessert/sweet grin was too rich for me. I was nattering away. The waiting staff were hovering. And hovering. It was because I had not properly aligned my cutlery to indicate that I had really finished and was not merely pausing.
I wonder if "suppah" is a public school thing - as we are now ruled by youngish old-etonians?

Mamie Tue 27-Mar-12 07:56:44

I believe it is also called "kitchen supps" in some quarters.
Lots of things besides fish knives and forks though (btw I once ordered some new ones and the shop rang and said "your fashitas have come". "Uh? Oh - fish eaters").
What about those little whatsits to stick in each end of your corn-on-the-cob, doilies (common or not?), serviette rings (doubly common, napkins dear not serviettes and a ring, even in solid silver, implied you would re-use them), mats or tablecloths, crusts off the bread or not, black gloves and brown shoes - I could write a book, if Nancy Mitford hadn't got there first.

petallus Tue 27-Mar-12 08:34:37

Invaluable advice being given here so I can try a bit of social climbing!

petallus Tue 27-Mar-12 08:37:20

Sometimes I wonder how I would behave if I was marooned on an island with a really posh person, say Prince Charles, who I would never normally have to interact with. I imagine he would be secretly appalled at my chavish manners as we went about building our shelter and gathering good etc. but be far too polite to say so.

petallus Tue 27-Mar-12 08:37:47

I meant food