So, the whole 'what makes you middle class' has been done to death hasn't it?
We're all pretty au fair with avocados, elephants sodding breath, the ubiquity of joules et cetera.
And lovely as it is to have such knowledge of the middle classes, none of it applies to me.
I'm working class and I'll explIn to you that which denotes this in just a minute.
Incidentally I heard that there's a few of us about so perhaps we can make our own list of our very own class signifiers.
Who's in?
I shall go first.....
Love of charity shops, this week I picked up a leather Hobbs bag for 3.99 and a couple of Abercrombie & Fitch tops for DD1 1.49 each!
Love of Iceland/Heron foods/Home bargains/B&M. Yes I know I could get everything I need in Sainsbury's but I actually prefer scrabbling around for bargains and topping up at Lidl.
Chardonnay. I love it, tastes fab. I can't be arsed to pretend that I prefer a Beaujolais or Cab Sav. I don't.
One bathroom/toilet in a five bed house.
Regional accent which I take pleasure in.
Children who play football and wear replica kits whilst doing so
Girls who wear pinkI draw the line at bloody Jojo bows though
Getting drunk at barbecues and performing impromptu Karaoke.
Allowing my children to 'play out' in the cul de sac from age seven.
Cleaning my own house.
Holidays at Center Parcs rather than overseas.
Owning a Huskita
Letting my children watch TV and eat crisps in full view of other parents.
Having a 'pop man'
Listening to LBC rather than R4
Not really giving a fuck about trans, one way or the other.
I'm sure there's lots more besides which I'll try to remember.
How about you?
What makes you sit back at the end of a hard day and think 'yep I'm a fully paid up member of the old working classes?'
AIBU?
To ask what makes you working class? (Lighthearted)
MissAlabamaWhitman · 29/07/2017 12:00
You're right Babe
I could have millions in the bank and I'd still love rummaging in charity shops, shop at Lidl/Heron/Iceland.
I still wouldn't listen to Radio 4 or buy a new build house.
My tastes will always be those of a WC person.
Money would never make me middle class, to be fair though, nothing would. 
I'm now pretty wealthy.
It makes no difference to how I see my class : working class.
Nor does my lifestyle: Oxbridge educated, professional role, owner of property, DC attended public school.
People get irked when I say I'm working class. They think it's fake. But it's not. That is my background, my culture, my outlook.
I find the traditional middle classes a different species 
.
I agree with formerbabe, money has very little to do with determining what class you are. When I was at uni, very few people wanted to be seen as middle class. I'm from a working class background and just naively presumed everyone who seemed like me had a broadly similar background but perhaps with more books at home and parents who were teachers.
I look back now and think of their names, the schools they went to, their parents occupations and realise that beneath the piercings, dreads, liberal use of London slang and crusty clothes they were all really middle class. Crucially, they all had connections, money and support which meant pretty much all of them could do things like travel for a bit, do an unpaid internship somewhere, travel somewhere else for a bit, travel a bit more, spend six months making festival jewellery and selling it on etsy, do a masters then get a job in publishing/the arts/a prestigious company through a friend of a friend. Trustafarians, the lot of them!
I'm working class really, because I don't have the security of knowing that there is always a pot of money if I want to pursue a niche arty career or go travelling, and my dad couldn't just 'get me a job' by saying "Faffy doesn't really know what she wants to do after spending a few years backpacking round India but she's a great girl, any chance anyone in your company needs a PA?" That security, to me, is middle class.
Having said that, my interests, and tastes, are much more middle class than working: literature, theatre, secondhand kids clothes, Cornwall over the Costa del Sol, don't like visible brand names, all home-cooked food, listen to R4. ..
I do think that interests and values are a large factor in determining your class. But then I look working class because I'm slightly overweight and never manage to look 'expensive.' Class in the UK is a minefield!
GetAHaircutCarl. Always handy to have a lawyer in the family 
But yes, Classics studying daughter may well do law.
Interestingly, 34 years ago my careers teacher told me straight out that law was not for the poor working class likes of me. The much thicker middle class boys in my class were encouraged all the way though. Much later I did a module of law as part of a business masters and it felt like a fantastic fit for me, so I have always held a massive bitter grudge had a few regrets.
Don’t want to miss threads like this?
Weekly
Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!
Log in to update your newsletter preferences.
You've subscribed!
To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.