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

[PhylisStein]

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?

The enemies you make in your sleep ...

changing curtains for shutters

being quite early to decorate a room with a feature wallpaper wall then regret it only a year of so later when you realise every joe is having it done

using muted period Farrow and Ball paints (or B&Q fake ones)

changing your 1980s hall radiator for a reclaimed Victorian one.

Being middle class means you never need to worry what others think because you are consfident that you can't make a boo boo.

I am confused.

Despite living next to the middle class area because we cant afford to live in it, and despite the fact that having £50 left in the bank account after everything is paid is a MAJOR result and despite buying all of our clothes from Asda (partly out of laziness, who wouldnt love a shop that sells you shoes and cheese within feet of each other?!), according to alot of these "markers" I appear to be middle class!

Ballet lessons (paid for by grandma) - check
Rugby club membership (see above) - check
Wearing Birkies, and calling them same - check
Too much wine - check-check-and double check
Attends balls - check (twice as a waitress as my friend organised it, third time as a bona fide paying guest)
Grow own veggies - check, thanks to my allotment share with another poor person (who is also MC according to MC dictats!)
Knackered car/washing machine/kitchen/roof/floor/body - check, check, check, check, check and check
Holiday in rural France - check (its much cheaper than the coast and "you get like a MUCH better expeeeerience of reaaaal Frarrrrrnce, you knoooow?")

I really dont think I am MC and tbh I couldnt care less either way although I do know that my allotment co-owner and i will know misbehave even more than we already do on the basis that we are MC now and therefore allowed to :o:o

couscous

We eat couscous too!

I have just realised what it is. I have just used another word on Mnet and haven't seen it used for a long time. We are genteel and genteel transcends status and class. Emily Bishop is genteel, Jane Bennett was genteel, Mary Archer was genteel, we are quiet and dignified and never brag or boast and quietly go about our business without drawing attention to ourselves.

Mary Archer was famously fragrant wasn't she?

Maybe it's a smell thing. Upper class: horses. Middle class: home baking. Working class: Wotsits.

Is Boden aimed at short people? I bought a top off ebay and can't wear it as it shows my belly, I'm average height. Think I'm young and skint enough to still mooch around topshop for a bit longer, thankfully. That Boden stuff has got some scary colourways going on. And did anyone read the Times interview with the founder of Boden, Johnny B or something, reading that put me off ever associating with the brand, what a knob.

At the end of the day, cath kidson is mostly just PVC. Doesn't do anything for me. Why doesn't she go the whole hog and bring back Formica and G Plan units, table nests and stainless steel tea sets ...

What's it about anyway? Nostalgia for days spent organising the laundry and having the gin and tonic ready for your husband after a hard day at the office? Funny how these trends catch on when everyone is feeling poor and down in the dumps.

Cath kidson is vile - even without the pvc the designs are really twee and really quite yuk! Bad enough when you see one bag but have you ever walked past a CK shop!!! Truly awful.

kdston is temple of twee mediocrity hark back to ye olde cupcake times

Re: titles, which someone mentioned upthread. The only person who I know who is a Lord does not use that title on his business life for fear of looking like an upper class prat. It was only a 20th century peerage (bascally purchased) and he has no vote in the House of Lords. Being a 'Lord' used to be wonderful but now, apparently, it is an unfortunate embarrassment. It used to be an advantage.

I think being middle class is a one way ticket. Quote of the day on mn was once along the lines of, 'my family have been more downwardly mobile that the Durbeyfields'.

I am a second generation immigrant.

Kidson is the new Laura Ashley. Destined to go the same way hopefully

All that dressing up as a Thomas Hardy maiden. Sprigged and homemade.

What's wrong with twee mediocrity? It's a good antidote to all the take-oneself-too-seriously-aren't-we-sophisticated stuff.

MC are terribly earnest about all kinds of issues, make a huge show about being PC, think it`s dreadful to evict the Dale Farm Travellers (would never, ever refer to them by the g word) but would go hysterical and make huge protests if the aforementioned Travellers actually settled near them. Ditto for various kinds of asylum seekers. Tolerant only as long as their own lives are not affected.

My mother`s very MC neighbour went to the rugby club to ask if it was actually necessary for the children who practice on the pitch behind her house to shout to one another while playing! :) - can just imagine her idea of how rugby should be played ;) -

Small, well-scrubbed 9 year-old (whispering): Excuse me Hugo, would you mind passing me the ball please?

Small boy with neat side-parting(also whispering) Im awfully sorry, James, Id love to, but I think youre about to be tackled by an opponent!`

Can you be middle class and still be really poor and not have a degree?

I am on a low income but I'm MC, yes. I do have a degree though.