To think that the middle classes are liars and actors?

I genuinely can't imagine having the time, energy or inclination to give this much of a shit about the lives of others. Mind blowing that anyone gives this sort of stuff headspace 😂

Well ain’t you a treat 🙄 you seem to have a lot of time on your hands if you have to dig for information on people you know!

How should they be behaving?
What houses should they have?

yes it can and it doesn't mean they are performing. If I walk differently because I have done pilates classes, that doesn't mean it a performance...same with changes to speech pattern and tone.

Social mobility is at an all time low currently, so the op can probably worry less about interlopers masquerading as her “sort of people”, in the long run.

Oh god! Say it isn't so...

What is wrong with you?

I wonder if she is quite as 'ee bah gum' when she's not speaking in public, many people with strong regional accents when speaking on TV etc have a different, milder accent in private.

This one wins the internet

OMG his middle name is Rodney.....
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=609875768

nailed it. Actually and seriously my late husband's mother's family thought he shouldn't train to be an officer in the merchant navy because he was getting ideas above his class. They seriously said he should train as a seaman and not as an officer.

And it's not just Britain, all countries have ways of delineating their society and some are very rigid, the caste system in India would be a good place to look.

So YOU made massive assumptions about them based on what their lives are like now, but somehow its their fault?!

Whereas his son is merely a tool!

What a ridiculous thing to get hung up on. You’d look at me and see middle class, hair, clothes, bag, shoes, car, house, privately educated kids, job.

grew up poor, what do you want me to do, dress like I work down the mines. What difference does what my parents did make, i am me. Not my parents. Im not a,liar or an actor.

I guess we're middle class, our parents were nurses, shop workers and carpenters and I'm proud of them all for bringing us up so we could get a better education than they were able to, and arguably have a better life than they did.

I'm a terrible actor and I don't lie (a lot) and definitely not about my parents occupations. Sorry to disappoint.

My view was the OP was trying to discuss how people can be acting up or acting " fake" and trying to state how such "lying / covering up " seems to be detrimental etc etc. I was suggesting it's valid to some extent as if you understand psychology and history you can see how humans have this inclination. Anthropology also shows this ... I can image Mr caveman & Ms cave women and their cave kids would be trying to show how better they'll were to their neighbouring cavemen lol. People are different, deep down I think we all know what's right and wrong . I try to be

an optimist & have a thirst for knowledge. My background is varied and I meet all walks of life. I've seen all sorts trying to create better pictures of themselves & life in general - can be a laugh watching it all and I'm thankful I understand why people act like this .... doesn't make it right ... and yes would be good of people just to be themselves and realise we are one after all. Shakespeare comes to.mind .... re:- the world is a stage & .... full of actors etc etc lol

Why are you so obsessed with class? Does it make any difference what peoples' parents/grandparents do/did?

... although I must say it made me laugh when I discovered Jacob Rees Mogg's grandfather was a lorry driver ....

Wow. You sound horrid, and vapid.

It's because being middle class is precarious. There isn't the generations of land and wealth to back it up that the upper classes have. It's very difficult to rise in this country - although on Mumsnet every poster started life on a "sink estate" and is now a millionaire, this is not typical for the UK at all - and very easy to fall.

Now that fewer households are able to own properties, this precariousness and the fear it engenders, will only increase.

It's the insecurity that makes people talk about it - they're self-checking and self-soothing that they're still where they want to be.

Middle Class presenting? I was educated in the 80’s and went to Uni then. Went to the best grammar school in the city. From a working class background, both of my parents had jobs in the 80’s so we thought we were lucky.
I had friends at school who had ponies and tennis lessons. Also friends who had far less than me.
I can tell you decades later it was the kids who had very little who have done the best out of all of us. And by that I mean multi-millionaires in all sorts of jobs and industries. They lost their accents along the way because sadly that was very much required.
The middle class friends have stayed that and are all doing well, but the real true go-getters came from very, very humble beginnings. The teachers at our school did look down on them and the ones who chose not to go to Uni, thereby disgracing the school, have absolutely flown.
One lad was in a care home until 16, and actually went to live with a teacher’s family for Sixth Form. Back when background checks did not exist. He got a 1st at Oxford and whenever I see him now (usually online) he is beautifully spoken and his career has been stellar.
I have probably moved from working class to I am not sure what! Still have my accent as I didn’t go too far for Uni. I haven’t changed that much, to be honest I feel like a bit of a plodder compared to the high-fliers, but I know that big money careers also come with huge pressures.
Like it or loathe it, the school and its reputation opened doors and for ‘ordinary’ kids like me it changed my world. I can remember going for my first ‘big’ interview and they didn’t even request a reference. The gentleman interviewing me was friends with the Deputy Head, and the job was mine.
The grammar system then was tough, and very snobby, but it absolutely transformed opportunities for many pupils.

How completely and utterly bizarre, sometimes the insight I get into the workings of people's minds on MN is just disturbing.

OP you sound like you have an enormous chip on your shoulder, I have no idea why, I don't know if you are trying to shove the middle class wannabes back to working class or if you are annoyed that they aren't shouting their working class roots from the roof tops. I really don't care what class people are, just that they are decent people. This fixation is so strange.

All the jobs you've mentioned are decent. Builders, welders, even steelworkers can earn a competent living.

If this is a joke, be funnier

Though who wants an indecisive welder who’s freaking out because his mother married his murderous uncle and has a bad habit of stabbing people through arrases without checking whether they’re assassins or just boring family friends?

The oiks should know their place @MargaretBrewer !

They should be happy to live down to the narrow stereo type you have for how a working class person should be.

I am not from this country so the class thing has always been funny to me. One thing I’ve noticed time and again though, is the bile those who are ‘properly’ middle class reserve for anyone of a WC class background improving their lot in life.

How dare the povs have nice things - it’s all crass ‘noveau riches’ tat.

How dare they have neutral or posh accents when they should be dropping their Hs and cursing like fishwives.

How dare they pay for private education for their kids when the real MC are having to wait for their parents to peg it before they can get their hands on that kind of dosh.

Right now many of the established middle classes are actually downwardly mobile and as they descend they are even angrier than usual at the oiks having the same or better standard of living.