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Are you middle class?

(159 Posts)
cinnamonstix Thu 14-Apr-16 14:09:30

...And what makes you middle class? I was browsing through over on The Other Side, and they've got a similar thread.

I don't know when I think about myself. I think it's harder to define what middle/working class is nowadays. Most people own homes (with a mortgage), have had university education etc.

TriciaF Sun 17-Apr-16 10:26:57

Deedaa - I think it's based on finances too. The first time I tried it I came out traditional working class. Cheated and put our income up a notch - established middle class.

Penstemmon Sun 17-Apr-16 21:02:48

I took the test for me and then for DDs and SILs.

I and DH turn out as established MC as do 2x DDs &1SiL. 1SiL is 'technical' MC.

Established MC SiL is a fire fighter but has 2 x degrees, Technical SiL has 1 GCE and is a builder but earns 2 x salary of other SiL and whilst he really enjoys threatre when he has been with us /DD he would never initiate going and he sees it as a MC pastime!
/contacts
So it seems money ( having it or not!) can be evened out by social interests or lack of!

Deedaa Sun 17-Apr-16 22:24:21

Ha ha TriciaF It's definitely money. I did it again and racked up the income and house value and Hey Presto! I'm now Elite grin Personally I've always thought that the amount of money you have and the sort of house you live in are the least important thing about you.

Marmark1 Mon 18-Apr-16 08:15:17

You are what you are matey, No amount of airs and graces will make you any posher.(or bleddy degrees) they're ten a bleddy penny.
Genuine people will see right through you,anyway.

Anniebach Mon 18-Apr-16 08:36:38

True Mamark, there is a saying here - give a beggar a horse and he will ride himself to death .

petra Mon 18-Apr-16 08:51:40

As Tony Benn once said: if your paid for the work you do, your working class.
I think what did it for me was that I had a lorry driver in my social circle lol.

TriciaF Mon 18-Apr-16 14:05:47

In our last family house we had a lorry driver neighbour and he was a brilliant pianist - we used to have singsongs around our piano and he could play any tune you asked for.
He used to drive me to work in his lorry if I had missed the bus.

merlotgran Mon 18-Apr-16 14:31:06

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3542287/Etiquette-expert-reveals-12-items-never-including-coasters-big-screen-TV-hot-tub.html

I have to confess to owning a few fridge magnets - very handy for anchoring appointment cards where they can be seen and not forgotten about. hmm

janeainsworth Mon 18-Apr-16 15:28:38

Epic fail! I have fitted carpets, coasters and fridge magnetsblushblush

annsixty Mon 18-Apr-16 15:46:02

Well now I have it confirmed " common as muck" and having read his comments oh boy am I pleased I'm not like him.

Elegran Mon 18-Apr-16 16:07:55

" oak or mahogany furniture, slightly chipped or worn in places, is far smarter and carries more cachet"

Alleluyah! My battered old brown furniture is smart at last. Thank goodness I was too broke attached to it to replace it with trendy white or mirrored junk.

Next week we will hear that psychedelic wallpaper, one burnt orange wall and kitchen benches upholstered in purple fabric printed with rows of lime green geometric flowers with brown geometric leaves and orange centres show that we have/had no taste. Luckily mine wore out or were wrecked by three children dropping their food or drawing on the walls, so I don't need to be embarrassed.

Maggiemaybe Mon 18-Apr-16 17:06:46

It sounds like the sort of stuff hipsters would pay a fortune for! grin

Elegran Mon 18-Apr-16 17:19:04

If I still had it I would put it on Ebay as "Genuine 60s psychedelia, sunglasses needed if eating in the same room" It was bright and cheerful at the time.

TerriBull Mon 18-Apr-16 17:29:14

Daft article, reminds me of Nancy Mitford's "u" and "non u" definitions, lavatory not toilet, napkin not serviette etc. For gawd's sake who wants white rings on their "non u, non inherited furniture, that's why we have coasters. Naff they might be, but kind of necessary. I do have a very old Victorian chest in the corner of my living room covered in marks and dare I say white rings, presumably that's OK. My husband would get rid of it in a heartbeat but I'm hanging on to it, because I like a mix of old and new. I'd like a Persian rug if I had old floorboards but alas we only have new oak wood, and possibly a very vulgar, floor in the hall, everywhere else we have the odious fitted carpets shock Do agree about gargantuan flat screen tvs though.

TerriBull Mon 18-Apr-16 17:38:20

"Next week we will hear that psychedelic wallpaper one burnt orange wall etc" Elegran not next week, it's very vogue now. That retro '60s look is bang on trend. You need to have a word with your kids retrospectively for mucking up the furniture, it could have been part of their inheritance grin

Anniebach Mon 18-Apr-16 18:09:52

I have oak furniture, no carpet, small tv, outdoor heater is a thick cardigan, no white furniture , not sure if the emergency number the electricity company sent me counts as a fridge magnet ,it's on the freezer door ,

Penstemmon Mon 18-Apr-16 22:12:46

Re the DM article: presumably he thinks darker wood furniture is older therefore could be inherited heirlooms not picked up cheaply from the charity shop!!

The article failed to mention use of special knives (e.g fish and butter) or cake forks. I am sure that using/owning is a sign of being something !

The hot tub/BigTV is about 'new money' being ostentatious and that is thought to be 'common'. What a load of bolloxx!!

PS whilst I do have a fitted carpet and coasters and magnets I don't havea hot tub or a big TV {grin]

harrigran Mon 18-Apr-16 22:30:52

People keep giving me fridge magnets but I don't have anywhere to put them because my fridges and freezers are behind doors.
Cake forks are always in use.

merlotgran Mon 18-Apr-16 22:38:57

In our old house the wooden floors were all over the place so we used coasters for levelling up tables. DH would be there with his spirit level saying, 'Nope. You need to shove a couple more under this leg.'

Anniebach Mon 18-Apr-16 22:52:01

I bought some of my oak furniture second hand and several pieces new were gifts

Eloethan Mon 18-Apr-16 22:57:44

We have wall-to-wall carpetting, more than one largish TV, mirrored wardrobes, patio heater (a gift - never used) and (horror of horrors) we use coasters.

Some of the items mentioned I wouldn't want - but purely for practical reasons: hot tub - unhygienic and high maintenance, American style fridge freezer - kitchen not bit enough, grand piano - neither of us can play.

My view is, if you allow one of these pompous self-appointed arbiters of taste to affect your views as to what you should and shouldn't have in your own home you are elevating him to a position of superiority over yourself anyway.

Anniebach Mon 18-Apr-16 23:28:55

Well said Eloethan

kittylester Tue 19-Apr-16 06:40:45

Oh lordy! Fridge magnets on the American fridge, fitted carpets, 2 largish tvs, coasters (some levelling the dining table too merlot and one supporting a slipping roof slate blush) - no hope for us! grin

NfkDumpling Tue 19-Apr-16 07:43:33

Established Middle Class. Both my grans would be dead chuffed!

My fridge magnets are on the freezer in the utility room. (Apart from the metric conversion ones from Lakeland which hold the DGC pictures on the kitchen fridge).

And coasters. Lots of coasters. Assorted. What does it say if half of them have Red Cross stamped on them?

kittylester Tue 19-Apr-16 08:33:00

Our coasters are ironic!! They are slate because of the school connection. Does that redeem them/us?