To think that it's not a crime to be middle class?

[upsylazy]

I consider myself middle class (there, I've said it) and am a bit concerned at the current tendency to use it as a term of abuse eg "you're so middle class" with "white middle class" being a euphemism for a smug arsehole. I would definitely consider myself lower middle class, I don't live in a big house, have a cleaner or au pair and my DCs don't have stupid names. I am not heavily into organic food (too expensive) and have been known to go to (gasp) McDonalds. However, i still feel a twinge of guilt at being middle class. Hopefully, this is not a national phenomena but I have recently noted a trend among a small group of (upper) middle class women to ditch the Boden and Monsoon for Primark gear and start talking in a mock Saarrrff London accent. This seems to be taking things a step too far and is just inverted snobbery.

The middle classes have been mocked, admired, looked down upon and aspired to in equal measure since they first emerged around the time of the first plague.

Just be who you are and to hell with class angst.

I have no class angst but have had this levelled at meas an insult of sorts. Odd behaviour.

Hey you can be middle class and not afford to shop in Boden and Monsoon! I'm head to toe in Tescos stuff and yet despite small house and cheap clothing, I guess my background is solidly middle class.

the only people who use it as an insult seem to be middle class themselves. tad confusing.

if you go to work - you're working class IMO.

Not all working clas people read red tops newspapers or are fat etc. All a load of bollochs the class system is in terms of whom is superior..

its just shorthand for a stereotype. there are smug arseholes of all classes but it is useful to categorize them so can sneer adn judge more readily

I warm to ILovedYous view..

hmm i think you'll find that tories have reclasssed middles as those who earn £100k+. that is who they mean anyway.

we are all working class or underclass now. with pretentions of course.

i love being middle class. people who use it as an insult are just jealous.

ok fishie..I am SO NOT middleclass then!

I had this "thrown" at me as a joke once at work by a colleague who was senior to me in the job. How was I middle class and he was not if he was my boss?
I see no useful benefit from the labels really. I imagine my dh would have had what was considered a very working class upbringing, whereas mine was probably lower middle class. He laughs at himself when he finds himself eating cheese and biscuits for lunch and comments on becoming so middle class. I don't really see what it means or achieves. Is middle class a lifestyle choice? I am really confused about it.

But ILovedYou, surely you're not working class if you work as a high court judge or the head of BP?

Ha ha! Fishie my dh will be relieved then - we are SOOOO not middle class by that reckoning!

I have recently noted a trend among a small group of (upper) middle class women to ditch the Boden and Monsoon for Primark gear and start talking in a mock Saarrrff London accent

Not sure I believe that to be honest..

upsylazy if both your parents worked in a factory or one was a plumber - yeah u r

i would rather eat a rat adn then vomit it back alive into my own mouth than shop at primark.

I get people shopping in Primark because they like it, but not "on purpose" or to prove something to somebody IYSWM.

What the fuck does middle class mean? How eighties .

they should study class at school

'if janes mother wears m&s knickers but gets her bras on ebay and buys jane gypsy skirts in teh boden sale but works in a factory what class is jane? '

I have long had my own classifications which are:

POSH

ORDINARY PUNTERS

SCRUFF

It is easy to fit people into these categories. About 95% of us are ordinary punters.

i lost a huge amount of weight

i just started shopping at primark
bought 2 jumpers for 20 pounds - just have to be selective

the quality is so much higher than evans spit - paying 30 pounds upwards for their clothes

Every class is vilified by others to some degree.
I don't know when, but it seems working class has become shorthand for ignorant anti social workshy people.
I am working class and none of the above. Being called middle class as an insult is not really a major cause of angst is it?

Class is really interesting. I am definitely middle class - family on both sides had either professional or religous occupations, my grandfather on my father's side went to Oxford in the 1930s. My dad had a professional job, from a technical background.

My employment now is not really in the same league - because I went to a state school and was bullied by both teachers and pupils for being posh and wealthy (when I wasn't). I was flagged as gifted early in my education, but unlearnt all my learning skills to fit in with the dullards and scum that dominated the culture of my school (lets be clear here - this includs the teachers who used to bash out their class issues on kids they thought were priviliged. (i.e I was punished and excluded for being successful, or punished and excluded for being lazy - it was a no-win).

I got pretty cool eventually, and had a great time at University, but found that I really hadn't made the most of it because of this massively ingrained idea that doing too well was damaging and undesirable 'too well' was basically getting anything right first time!

In order to continue like this, I actually chose a degree that didn't suit me, but still got OK marks.

We are awful in this country in general about achivement, but even worse to people who are self-evidently middle class - unless we are also middle class too and can relax.

I think the courgette is the signifier of middleclass.

No it's not a crime. Which is why presumably you haven't been arrested and charged

If you feel the middle-classes are derided just opt out - you don't have to be MC or WC or any other kind of C. Just live your life the way you want and don't lay claim to any class.