To think cards with the recipient named on the front are common?

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Class issue alert: inflammatory if you are bothered by that sort of thing

I was told that cards with 'To my wife/Grandad/Auntie' on the front were considered a bit non-U.

AIBU to go on thinking they're still a dead giveaway of background? Or are they OK?

Never understood why you need a card that says "Merry Christmas Mother" unless your mother has some condition that prevents her from knowing she is your Mother - and in that case it's probably moot anyhow

Yes, indeed.

Exceptions are grandparents, because even posh old people find a "Dear Granny" card from a child endearing (the upper middle classes are never, EVER called Nana)

I wouldn't. Especially if it had a picture of things grandmothers are supposed to like as opposed to things I actually like. (Disclaimer I am not a grandmother but I doubt I will see things differently if that were to happen. And I will not answer to Nana)

You could argue that 'Merry Christmas' isn't necessary on the card either.

These class threads are so amusing...

I'm not English, but DH is, and he's one of the most vulgar people I've ever met... and yet he works for a university. So... he's apparently an intelligent but vulgar and chavvy (?) cunt... or something.

He'd probably send a vulgar Christmas card to the whole family!!

I wonder what the animal charity cards say about us...

Probably that we care more about animals than people... shit

(I suspect it may be true in the case of PIL, they love their dogs...)

I shall now read this whole thread and learn more about 'the English' 😂

It never occurred to me to have an opinion on this before. I am vair middle class but I love an 'auntie' card and have made it very clear that I expect a 'mummy' card every year. I feel disappointed that I don't get 'girlfriend' or 'partner' ones from my OH. I don't get what's common about them.... It's hardly on a par with putting the milk bottle on the table is it?

I'm not keen because they're often a bit tacky. But I don't necessarily think tacky is a class indicator, I've met some very Poshe people with appalling taste. Also they often come with atrocious poems in them. They probably are a bit lower middle maybe - thoughtful but a bit naff?

I have bought them for people who would like them, though, but I try to find less tacky ones. Without the bloody awful poems.

Juni you may appear to be vair middle class but your taste in greeting cards leads me to conclude you simply must have been swapped at birth with another baby. Your bio parents are probably singing Knees Up Mother Brown right now.

DH has bought many a "TO MY WIFE" card for me over the years

Which reminds me of the mystery of baby announcements/cards:

Announcement: "We have had a baby girl/boy/as yet undetermined gender variant"

As opposed to what? A teenager?

Card: "A baby girl/boy"

Yes, we know - we fucking told you and one of us pushed it out her fanny.

I mean, we all do it, but it's a bit weird, isn't it?

Mitzy, ah, you've sussed me. I'm a total faker of the middle class (was thinking only today that I used to say settee & afters....good times). I wonder what my nan would be considered as - all cards had to feature red roses and the words 'special' and 'grandma'.

I've met some very Poshe people with appalling taste

Agreed. There is overlap between common and tacky but they are not one and the same. Many poshos are terrible philistines and Sloaney types love vulgar jokes - nostalgie de la boue.

You could argue that 'Merry Christmas' isn't necessary on the card either

None of the cards I sent had any words on the front.

I can't believe that 'U' and 'non-U' are still considered current concepts.

I can't believe that 'U' and 'non-U' are still considered current concepts.

I think there are some tongues poking holes in cheeks here.

As there were when Nancy and Evelyn invented it.

Well. My brother married into a titled family. My SIL's Mother sends cards with named recipients "To my darling Granddaughter" etc. She's very grand indeed and doesn't give a shit. She also goes on piss ups with her cleaner.

Some people seem to take it rather seriously Pretty.

They have always been considered a bit naff even more so if they have one or two of those over sentimental verses inside.
Jilly Cooper wrote a brilliant book called Class many years ago.
She said in her book that working class people buy those types of card because they don't know how to express themselves.

Well fuck me sideways, I'm also non-U. Who'd a thunk it? Right, I'm getting off the settee and going to the toilet, sticking my serviette in the bin on the way out of the lounge, and will leave the wealthy people to it

I can't remember if the cards I sent had words on the front or not except for my parent's one. That's how much this bothers me.

Giving a shit about class in this day and age is a wonderful indicator of how much of a twat someone is...

My dog got a card today, and it had nothing on the front. Where does this fit in our class system?

Mother is vair posh (I think she may be the only person still alive who still replies to wedding invitations in the third personother than me).
She abhors 'family' cards.
I have to say that I would never buy them.

She is very U. I'm quite U.

GameofPhones cards for dogs are acceptable but only if they're addressed to gun dogs. Cards for maltypoos and the cockadoodles are still frowned upon.