My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

AIBU?

To ask what makes you working class? (Lighthearted)

643 replies

MissAlabamaWhitman · 29/07/2017 12:00

So, the whole 'what makes you middle class' has been done to death hasn't it?

We're all pretty au fair with avocados, elephants sodding breath, the ubiquity of joules et cetera.
And lovely as it is to have such knowledge of the middle classes, none of it applies to me.

I'm working class and I'll explIn to you that which denotes this in just a minute.

Incidentally I heard that there's a few of us about so perhaps we can make our own list of our very own class signifiers.

Who's in?

I shall go first.....

Love of charity shops, this week I picked up a leather Hobbs bag for 3.99 and a couple of Abercrombie & Fitch tops for DD1 1.49 each!

Love of Iceland/Heron foods/Home bargains/B&M. Yes I know I could get everything I need in Sainsbury's but I actually prefer scrabbling around for bargains and topping up at Lidl.

Chardonnay. I love it, tastes fab. I can't be arsed to pretend that I prefer a Beaujolais or Cab Sav. I don't.

One bathroom/toilet in a five bed house.

Regional accent which I take pleasure in.

Children who play football and wear replica kits whilst doing so

Girls who wear pinkI draw the line at bloody Jojo bows though

Getting drunk at barbecues and performing impromptu Karaoke.

Allowing my children to 'play out' in the cul de sac from age seven.

Cleaning my own house.

Holidays at Center Parcs rather than overseas.

Owning a Huskita

Letting my children watch TV and eat crisps in full view of other parents.

Having a 'pop man'

Listening to LBC rather than R4

Not really giving a fuck about trans, one way or the other.

I'm sure there's lots more besides which I'll try to remember.
How about you?
What makes you sit back at the end of a hard day and think 'yep I'm a fully paid up member of the old working classes?'

OP posts:
DisorderedAllsorts · 29/07/2017 12:03

If you're properly w/c then you'd be holidaying at Butlins not Centre Parcs!

ButchyRestingFace · 29/07/2017 12:05

I would not be able to identify couscous if you held a loaded gun to my head.

I like my steak incinerated well done.

I eat more KFC than is strictly sensible.

Like Kate Middleton's mother, I would be more inclined to say "pleased to meet you" than "how do you do?" on meeting someone new.

MissAlabamaWhitman · 29/07/2017 12:07

Yes to all of those Butchy

(Well I do know cous cous but only because it has that Ainsley fella's face on the packet)

OP posts:
fabyoulouse · 29/07/2017 12:07

It's a topic which interests me but I never feel I can ask about here.

Things that jump out to me (but I will probably be corrected) are:

  • a big extended family, lots of grandparents, great grandparents, cousins, aunts.
  • playing "out"
  • dressing same sex children of different ages in matching clothes
  • having children young, not too young but most families are finished by 25. Many WC people i know are horrified by the thought of having a child aged 40
  • watching a lot of TV, as a thing to do. Complaining there is "nothing on" but not doing anything else instead so just watching the least dull option
  • Christmas is a big, big deal, as are birthdays and weddings.


I would disagree re charity shops, they are very middle class i think.
MissAlabamaWhitman · 29/07/2017 12:08

properly WC?!?

OP posts:
upperlimit · 29/07/2017 12:08

Having a 'pop man'

A pop man? Shock Where are you, the eighties?

MissAlabamaWhitman · 29/07/2017 12:11

I know UL!

He is a recent addition but wildly exciting, he comes every Friday and blue bubblegum toothrot is my favourite!

OP posts:
upperlimit · 29/07/2017 12:13

Grin Do you get to give your old glass bottle back and then get a discount? I'm quite envious.

OhTheRoses · 29/07/2017 12:13

Nope. It's the nuance of cutlery, certain pronunciations and a myriad of other things that the veneer of cous cous, Joules and even a Bentley can't mask.

And nobody who is well bred would give a flying fuck especially if it comes without airs

ZaraW · 29/07/2017 12:15

I don't buy into the whole class thing, I've worked overseas for years and no other nationality seems to be obsessed as the British but I am common so:

love Iceland especially their roast potatoes and frozen fruit.
I like Poundland for cat treats and cheap chocolate.
Don't have a cleaner.
My house is tiny and cosy and I have no desire for an extension, open plan kitchen diner.
I stay at Premier Inns.
Love charity shops.

MissAlabamaWhitman · 29/07/2017 12:17

Yes UL, ten pence discount on your next delivery. Marvellous Grin

What are you on about Roses?
This isnt a discussion of MC signifiers and no WC with whom I've ever been acquainted drives a Bentley or wears Joules hideous stuff.

OP posts:
vikingprincess81 · 29/07/2017 12:19

being amazed at people who have 5 bed houses when I look round my 3 bed semi Wink I'm just messing - I know house prices are so variable, and it makes no difference in the grand scheme of things.
Let's see:
I don't have a cleaner
I had my ds in my dd's hand me downs - yes even the pink (gasp!) babygros Wink
Not having replaced my car for 8 years because it still goes, has been very reliable, and I don't need a new one just to say I've got the latest model ok BIL?? We don't all need the latest model of things just because they exist!
Had my first child at 24 - I was easily the youngest mum in the antenatal classes/maternity ward.
That's all I can think of just now Grin

DubaiismyBlackpool · 29/07/2017 12:20

According to my dear DIL, we're working class because we like and eat mint choc chip ice cream. Poor girl has never even SEEN a tin of gravy beef burgers let alone dipped her slice of smart price white bread into the gravy. It's sad to be so underclassed.

We all - apart from DDIL apparently - think the best meal ever to have at tea time is sandwiches, crisps and choc biscuit.

We own a static caravan and holiday in it. Centre Parks isn't so much a Working Class holiday I fear OP.

vikingprincess81 · 29/07/2017 12:20

Oh, and a Scottish accent - we're all WC up here aren't we? Smile

vikingprincess81 · 29/07/2017 12:22

Calling it tea and not dinner?
Calling it dinner and not lunch?
I do realise this may be a regional thing rather than a WC/MC thing!

Spikeyball · 29/07/2017 12:22

I'm technically middle class but feel l'm working class because of my childhood.
We are both first in our family to go to university.
Don't like buying 2nd hand clothes ( grew up in them).
Don't drink wine.
Think buying m and s clothes and Clarks shoes is 'posh'
Hate wasting money and always stock up when bargains are available.
Would rather have savings than spend money in a frivolous way.

MissAlabamaWhitman · 29/07/2017 12:24

Ah yes Viking but I've only got one loo so automatically reduced to a prole Grin

Yes to all of yours, I do have a brand new car but it's a company car, my own is older and absolutely manky

And I had my first DC aged twenty two.

I was still the youngest on the maternity ward at age thirty three when I had DS3 in December though. I think older motherhood is transcending social classes and I'm not horrified by this in the least.

OP posts:
ClopySow · 29/07/2017 12:24

Sorry, centre parks rules you out of working class, as does enjoying shopping in charity shops and iceland.

If you were truly working class, you'd go to butlins or haven and you'd shop in those places out of necessity.

DrWhooves · 29/07/2017 12:25

I shop in asda and Iceland.
DD has many Jojo bows and pierced ears.
My next holiday will be to Blackpool.

nancy75 · 29/07/2017 12:25

My dads working class & drives a Bentley! I think being a certain class is more about attitude to things than actual money

TheLegendOfBeans · 29/07/2017 12:26

A strong love of ITV.

I'm not sorry.

Freddystarshamster · 29/07/2017 12:27

1)Not giving a flying fuck about gender politics
2) Love of all things Iceland
3) Being able to eat a kebab sober
4) Cleaning my own house

Don’t want to miss threads like this?

Weekly

Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!

Log in to update your newsletter preferences.

You've subscribed!

MissAlabamaWhitman · 29/07/2017 12:27

Really, have you been to CP recently CS?

It's full of people with regional accents, having their dinner at 1pm Smile

OP posts:
Theredknight · 29/07/2017 12:30

Babies being very well dressed, no hand me down baby grows.

Piles of presents for birthdays and Christmas.

Clean houses that are regularly decorated.

Haven, Butlins or an all inclusive package holiday.

Kids playing out.

Breakfast, dinner and tea.

MissAlabamaWhitman · 29/07/2017 12:31

Thought of some more food based ones;

I eat my olives out of a jar.
The last chateaubriand I had came via the freezer.
I put Elmlea in my (instant) coffee
I love Asda smart price crisps (66p for twelve packs and nicer than walkers)

OP posts:
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.