Middle Class / Upper Middle Class

[Beaniebeemer]

What’s the difference?

Names for the loo/lavatory

This explains it well.

how many horses pull your carriage

I note those who clean their own home and are spotless are often working or lower middle-class.

Middle-class to upper have cleaners, the more upper class the more they are clueless about cleaning.

Read Class by Jilly Cooper. It's dated but the descriptions of lower MC, middle MC, and upper MC are brilliantly funny.
From what I remember lower - hoovering a lot, middle - golf, upper - arty opera-goers.

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-6661801/The-rise-cleanfluencers-Women-perfectly-organised-homes.html

This would be a working to middle-class movement.

New vs old money.

Wherever you start from, and wherever you went to school, you can become middle class via education, hard work and professional success. I should know.

Upper middle class is more about who you know, where you went to school and with whom.

Middle class, house looks like something out of ideal homes, kids are called Annabelle and Sebastian, much handwringing about school places, maybe even independent schools. You're in awe of the UMC but would rather be caught eating a Greggs sausage roll than admit it.

UMC, house looks like it was decorated by your gran with a thick layer of dust/dog hair, kids are called John and Lizzy, you go to the same public school your mum or dad went to. You can't stand the middle class.

Love these threads

Giving a shit

the higher up you are
the less shits you give

Working class - Asda, Middle class- Sainsbury, Upper Middle- Waitrose, Upper Class- Harrods

I’m delighted that my lack of cleaning skills combined with my lack of imagination in naming my children help make me UMC! FWIW I do think Tremolo’s description is pretty accurate, my family are UMC (probably on the way down) and all have ‘lived in’ houses and little interest in them becoming show homes, DPIL are much more houseproud and I always feel they are a little stressed on our behalf about our house! Other things are how they like to discuss how much things cost (and we are supposed to be impressed when they have paid a lot for something) and a kind of ostentatious obsession with the things they do or have done which they consider to be smart (like for example constantly talking about dh’s private school - he’s now in his 40s!) It all feels a bit embarrassing to me.

Preferring F word to T word.

Middle Class will probably be state school, maybe day school. Probably has working class grandparents.

Upper middle class, very unlikely to be state schooled unless for a reason, ee Jewish, Welsh Lang. Probably boarding school. Will have upper middle class grandparents. Basically the family will always have been above the working class.

Hyacinth was middle class. Her sister Violet (swimming pool, sauna, room for a pony) was upper middle class.

Is usually pretty easy to place people into these virtual class slots by listening to language..

Upper class have a granny
Middle class a grandma
Working class a nan or nanny

For upper class nanny looks after your children and is definitely not your mil or dm. !

Working class read red top paper if at all

Lower middle (with aspirations to upper middle) - the daily mail.

Upper middle - The guardian

Upper - The times or Telegraph.

They working class have breakfast, dinner then tea.

The middle class have breakfast, Lunch then Supper

The upper class have Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner then Supper (after the theatre)

The upper class care little about cleaning their homes (as others do that ) or the latest furnishings. Much more likely to have a few really expensive pieces expected to last many years until they fall apart. The greatest horror would be for anyone to assume they were nouveau riche.. it's about 'old money' (which is NEVER discussed).

I grew up 100% middle class and always called it breakfast, dinner and tea. If it isn't dinner, why do we have dinner ladies?

FWIW though, I am northern

I have breakfast, dinner and tea. What does that make me? Apart from confused!

God not this again

Eh? I meant to say I have breakfast, lunch and dinner. Now I've confused myself!

I don’t think your list of telltale signals is accurate at all Patchworkpatty.
Apart from employing a nanny or reading The times, I fit everything on your list for upper class, but yet I’m working class.

Read:Watching the English. It explains it all in a very amusing way.

I grew up believing class systems didn’t exist anymore (naive child that I was) because my parents let me go to a state school of my choice after all my siblings were privately educated.