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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think on a scale of 1-10 - how ‘Mumsnet’ is this?

33 replies

Corditer · 22/04/2025 10:32

rough council estate upbringing
rough school - full of violence
no education qualifications to speak of

completely uneducated likely illiterate parents

no education qualifications between the 6 siblings

Fathers fav pastime is local pub

Parents wear obviously working class clothing - father wears chunky cygnet ring etc

Strong regional accent and incorrect grammar - double negatives etc

This was my DP’s upbringing. However his niece was so different - private school - first class Degree from uni etc.

So it just goes to show what can change in a single generation!!

I love the fact my DP is old school working class! But also like the broader horizons middle class life often brings - his niece being a young graduate has had an interesting career thus far…

But what was the reckoning on massive salads appearing in my DP’s childhood?! 🤣

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
SchnizelVonKrumm · 22/04/2025 12:22

ThisIsItNowOrNever · 22/04/2025 12:21

Not sure if you are trolling, humble bragging or being sarcastic. Probably all of them. So 10 / 10.

Or on glue? I gather that's very Mumsnet.

ThisIsItNowOrNever · 22/04/2025 12:21

Not sure if you are trolling, humble bragging or being sarcastic. Probably all of them. So 10 / 10.

Berlinlover · 22/04/2025 12:18

I wasn’t aware signet rings were considered working class.

Iwantamarshmallowman · 22/04/2025 12:18

if you mean you sound like a dick and i have no idea what you are banging on about then yes.. that seems to sum mumsnet up right now.

InterIgnis · 22/04/2025 12:13

Being performatively working-class-‘til-I-die whilst deriding the middle class, on a platform you make sure to stress is middle class?

11/10 Mumsnet.

Original poster
Corditer · 22/04/2025 12:12

Vroomfondleswaistcoat · 22/04/2025 11:35

I don't think it's Working Class People and Middle Class People. I think it's just People. You get lovely hard working people and drunken shirkers in all classes and walks of life. I think a lot of things aren't down to class, they are down to the actual person involved.

yes I very much agree.

there was a MC son of a headteacher in my form class and he was exactly like my WC DP -

decent, straightforward (and good looking 🤣)

Yes one MC other WC

but exactly same character/personality - that makes me think - it is character that’s important not class

OP posts:
HunnyPot · 22/04/2025 12:08

10/10 Mumsnet

ValentinesGranny · 22/04/2025 12:04

Doesn't King Charles wear a cygnet (sic) ring?

SchnizelVonKrumm · 22/04/2025 11:57

EineReiseDurchDieZeit · 22/04/2025 11:54

I would also like to know what constitutes “working class clothing”

Show quote history

Cloth caps for all, to be doffed at every opportunity, plus a signet ring on every finger?

SchnizelVonKrumm · 22/04/2025 11:56

Bigearringsbigsmile · 22/04/2025 11:52

Your linking of working class with being uneducated is insulting and awful

Don't worry, OP thinks they're all brilliant and open-minded despite all apparently being semi-literate, whilst the dreadful MC neighbours are all narrow-minded despite their educational privilege. Or something.

EineReiseDurchDieZeit · 22/04/2025 11:54

Bigearringsbigsmile · 22/04/2025 11:52

Your linking of working class with being uneducated is insulting and awful

I would also like to know what constitutes “working class clothing”

Bigearringsbigsmile · 22/04/2025 11:52

Your linking of working class with being uneducated is insulting and awful

EineReiseDurchDieZeit · 22/04/2025 11:49

overtothere · 22/04/2025 11:40

This is all a bit odd.

Isn’t it though? I don’t like your first post OP you say it reflects your DHs genuine upbringing but it reeks of prejudice and behind the hand scoffing in my opinion

user2848502016 · 22/04/2025 11:45

I think this is a you issue OP, don’t really know what you’re going on about tbh.
You sound like you have some issues around class, quite a lot of snobbery, maybe picked up during childhood?
I grew up fairly typical lower MC family, nice mid sized house, state school, parents with professional jobs. I have good friends from WC and MC backgrounds, there’s no typical WC or MC person.

Thewalrusandthecarpenter · 22/04/2025 11:44

Smallmercies · 22/04/2025 10:42

Love the cygnet ring - bet they swan around showing it off!

ducks

🤣🤣

Original poster
Corditer · 22/04/2025 11:42

SchnizelVonKrumm · 22/04/2025 11:36

So your mum was simultaneously a snob and yet also took you on package holidays full of mostly uneducated WC kids?

I really don't understand the point of this thread.

Show quote history

Yes - she did - that’s the paradox ! But cynically I think she took me on these holidays because she just wanted to stay in the room and drink ….

OP posts:
overtothere · 22/04/2025 11:40

This is all a bit odd.

gerania · 22/04/2025 11:39

Agree your level of extreme class-consciousness is very ‘Mumsnet’, if that is what you are asking. 10/10.

SchnizelVonKrumm · 22/04/2025 11:37

Vroomfondleswaistcoat · 22/04/2025 11:35

I don't think it's Working Class People and Middle Class People. I think it's just People. You get lovely hard working people and drunken shirkers in all classes and walks of life. I think a lot of things aren't down to class, they are down to the actual person involved.

Exactly. But the OP claims she definitely isn't stereotyping anyone 🙄

SchnizelVonKrumm · 22/04/2025 11:36

Corditer · 22/04/2025 11:31

Yes ok.

Just thought about your comments and ok .. it just so happens that my DP had what people might see as a very typically - of stereotypically - working class upbringing plenty of cygnet rings but no track suit in sight !! However, another WC family I know - their kids had a less typically WC upbringing - think private housing on a more lower MC street - and the kids got more education quals.
My mum was a doctor - very middle class snob but was an alcoholic abusive piece of s**t who should have languished in jail - long story - think violence and tantrums if people didn’t do as she wanted! She pushed me with one particular vile MC girl. However, as an adult I’ve met great, decent middle class people who don’t resemble the vile MC people I grew up with

Show quote history

So your mum was simultaneously a snob and yet also took you on package holidays full of mostly uneducated WC kids?

I really don't understand the point of this thread.

Vroomfondleswaistcoat · 22/04/2025 11:35

I don't think it's Working Class People and Middle Class People. I think it's just People. You get lovely hard working people and drunken shirkers in all classes and walks of life. I think a lot of things aren't down to class, they are down to the actual person involved.

Original poster
Corditer · 22/04/2025 11:31

Pentimenti · 22/04/2025 11:13

I think you have some weird, stereotyped ideas about both WC and MC people that suggest a lot of unresolved issues, OP. I mean, tracksuited, signet-ring-wearing semi-literate salt of the earth vs ‘boring, narrow-minded’ MC types and their ‘irritating, precious’ offspring isn’t my experience. I’m a bin man’s daughter who grew up with an outdoor loo and one of my closest friends is an Honourable who grew up in a crumbling Palladian mansion with a ha-ha and shooting. (And yes, going home with her in the vac was eye-opening.)

Plus I’m not sure I understand why you’re focusing in your OP on your partner and his niece when it sounds as if your own family was similarly class-mobile in recent generations?

Show quote history

Yes ok.

Just thought about your comments and ok .. it just so happens that my DP had what people might see as a very typically - of stereotypically - working class upbringing plenty of cygnet rings but no track suit in sight !! However, another WC family I know - their kids had a less typically WC upbringing - think private housing on a more lower MC street - and the kids got more education quals.
My mum was a doctor - very middle class snob but was an alcoholic abusive piece of s**t who should have languished in jail - long story - think violence and tantrums if people didn’t do as she wanted! She pushed me with one particular vile MC girl. However, as an adult I’ve met great, decent middle class people who don’t resemble the vile MC people I grew up with

OP posts:
Smallmercies · 22/04/2025 11:25

Corditer · 22/04/2025 10:57

Thing is what I’ve stated about my DPs upbringing are facts about his family not stereotypes.

I’d rather spend time with him than the middle class people from my neighbourhood any day who were very narrow minded, boring, etc etc

Show quote history

Were they boring because they were middle-class, or because they were boring people?

Pentimenti · 22/04/2025 11:13

Corditer · 22/04/2025 10:57

Thing is what I’ve stated about my DPs upbringing are facts about his family not stereotypes.

I’d rather spend time with him than the middle class people from my neighbourhood any day who were very narrow minded, boring, etc etc

Show quote history

I think you have some weird, stereotyped ideas about both WC and MC people that suggest a lot of unresolved issues, OP. I mean, tracksuited, signet-ring-wearing semi-literate salt of the earth vs ‘boring, narrow-minded’ MC types and their ‘irritating, precious’ offspring isn’t my experience. I’m a bin man’s daughter who grew up with an outdoor loo and one of my closest friends is an Honourable who grew up in a crumbling Palladian mansion with a ha-ha and shooting. (And yes, going home with her in the vac was eye-opening.)

Plus I’m not sure I understand why you’re focusing in your OP on your partner and his niece when it sounds as if your own family was similarly class-mobile in recent generations?

SchnizelVonKrumm · 22/04/2025 11:03

In only a few posts you've called the MC people on your street "irritating", "precious", "narrow-minded" and "boring" whilst the WC kids were universally wonderful. Yet there's no stereotyping or one-upmanship going on and your thread is intended as lighthearted? Cool story 👍