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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to wonder what activities/attributes/attitudes/acquisitions/attir e mark a person out as definitely middle class?

145 replies

PhylisStein · 06/09/2011 22:04

I have just returned home from a Boden clothes party where I drank Prosecco and talked about house prices!

Am I middle class? How can I be sure? What else would mark me out as middle class?

Do I need more than one sort of houmous in my fridge at all times?

OP posts:
CheerfulYank · 07/09/2011 23:37

DH has a high degree and we have decent manners and all that, because I had an aspirational strict mother, but we're quite poor so hopefully we are pulling off genteel shabbiness. :o

DS doesn't go to rugby but if they had it here he would. He does soccer and T-ball. If I had a DD she would probably do ballet.

Yes to being obsessed with grass-fed, organic, free range, local food. Blush

We don't have a television though we can watch things on the laptop.

BUT:

Grew up dirt poor, love trashy reality shows ala the Jersey Shore, can and do drink like a fish given the occasion, and on the once a year occasion when I am really, really, really angry I will swear you up one side and down the other.

So I'm not sure I qualify. Plus, I'm not sure if my DS's name is common or MC. Confused

CheerfulYank · 07/09/2011 23:38

Um...I have black and white photos. Blush

HoHoLaughingMonster · 07/09/2011 23:42

I find the main attribute of the middle class is being overly concerned with appearing to be middle class.

CheerfulYank · 07/09/2011 23:43

Probably true. :)

I want a Cath Kidston bag though...

yellowraincoat · 07/09/2011 23:47

All middle class people will claim that their parents were working class, in an attempt to buy themselves street cred. My friend does this: his dad is a lecturer at a Russel Group uni.

goingmadinthecountry · 07/09/2011 23:48

Cath Kidston lost all her cachet for me when I drove past a stonking factory a couple of weeks ago. I imagined a load of Kirsty thingyalikes block printing in front of Agas while mc dcs rolled around with the labrador. I now intend to design and weave all my own fabrics or source them from Zanzi or similar

LDNmummy · 07/09/2011 23:50

Woooaaahhhh!!!!!!

A BODEN CLOTHES PARTY!?

I have heard it all now Shock

Fecklessdizzy · 07/09/2011 23:54

Being all sneery about correct punctuation and e-numbers and madly one-uppy about sats/gcses/brainiac-type-goings-on ...

Cereal · 08/09/2011 00:02

It's possible to be middle-class and have a low income and no interest in Boden, outdoing the neighbours or status symbols.

I'm not upper-class or working-class, I have a degree and a professional qualification so that puts me in the middle. But the social climbing snobbery described in posts above doesn't appeal to me at all.

scottishmummy · 08/09/2011 00:04

being a scheme wean mc is not my background
i do my own thing
and dont know or care what anyone else thinks
but certainly i know people do have affectations and stress about such shit
and cath kidston is for frumpy housewife's who hark to a halcyon never had primped table cloth past and ladies who smell of lavender and wee

Cereal · 08/09/2011 00:11

I love Cath Kidston things! A breath of fresh air compared to all the boring so-called "sophisticated" 80s stuff which still seems to be around.

CheerfulYank · 08/09/2011 00:13

What's a scheme wean?

scottishmummy · 08/09/2011 00:14

imo,cath kidston ghastly frumpy and trying too hard.aesthetic equivelent of laxative. and all the twee hark back merchandising.

scottishmummy · 08/09/2011 00:16

scheme wean=grew up as child on council housing scheme

CheerfulYank · 08/09/2011 00:17

I like Cath Kidston, but I giggled massively at "aesthetic equivalent of a laxative."

Cereal · 08/09/2011 00:18

I buy it because I like it, I'm definitely not the "try hard" type. I just like the designs and couldn't care less if anyone thinks they're frumpy.

To me, "try-hard" is trying desperately to either "fit in" or be stylish, glamorous or sophisticated, or being snobbish about ordinariness.

scottishmummy · 08/09/2011 00:21

cath kidston and orla and boden mums=conspicious obvious labels
like a uniform.a sea of white linen wide leg trousers in summer and a stamp of ugg boots and skinny jeans in winter

ApocalypseCheeseToastie · 08/09/2011 00:51

Snorting decent coke Wink

CheerfulYank · 08/09/2011 02:13

:o

What IS a scheme wean?! I want to know!

Actually I don't have Uggs, I have these and they are fabulous and I'll not hear a word against them.

carabos · 08/09/2011 08:10

Where I live, MC looks like this:
Daily Telegraph
British Airways
Life drawing classes
Sending three year-olds to private school full time
Working mums are as rare as unicorns
Audi for dad, range rover for mum
Horses
Going to the next town for Waitrose to avoid Tesco
Freecycle
Commuting by train

carabos · 08/09/2011 08:11

Forgot Pilates (of course)
Tennis

mumblejumble · 08/09/2011 08:28

I went to a private school, father was a gp, mother was SAHM.
Went to redbrick uni got good degree, masters and Ph.d
Am now considering pulling my dc out of state school to home-ed, for various reasons including providing private school style education because have had enough of local poor standards.
Might have to rely on parents to pay uni fees or something.....
My 8 year old reads Guardian, Independent, Times because those are the papers we have Blush and also has his own laptop (present from my brother, who is a management accountant)
I live in East London and teach my children to speak properly
But I have no money..

LaurieFairyCake · 08/09/2011 08:28

I am working class, dh is working class - we just like things that people might describe as middle class and eschew things that people might describe as being favoured by working class/underclass (there are many tracksuit/reality tv examples on this thread)

mumblejumble · 08/09/2011 08:30

I have also taken up knitting and considering sewing a patch-work quilt and learning to crochet.....

Pawsnclaws · 08/09/2011 08:51

So IS it possible to change class? I've always been doubtful.

My dad worked in a factory, my mum worked as a cleaner. I went to a very poor comprehensive. I wouldn't say we went hungry but we had a pretty poor diet - cheap food like fizzy drinks and endless chips with everything. I was quite often a bit embarrassed by my clothes as a child, but they were always clean and tidy, just dated.

We didn't have central heating or a phone till I was 7. I didn't fly till I was 23.

I did however go to university, qualify as a solicitor and spend many years working in the City. I'm a class traitor too in that my two oldest children are at private school and we have a very comfortable lifestyle. But I have to admit that I still sneer a little at the fleets of 4 x 4s in the school car parks and the endless competing over cello lessons and fancy holidays. I know of parents at this school in pretty dire financial straits, yet they continue to live a lifestyle they can't afford.

My personal view is that my class hasnt changed, but does that make me a different class to the rest of the family?