To ask what makes you working class? (Lighthearted)

[MissAlabamaWhitman]

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?'

I live in a flat above a shop.
I have long fake acrylic nails.
I love a spray tan.
I drink cider straight from the can. Prefer it to wine to be honest.
I absolutely love KFC.
Don't have a dining table.

I could be middle class by the area/house we live in, jobs and the things we have.

I am also currently at Centre Parcs ! And not in the cheapest accommodation either!

I'll always be working class though. It's the 'fight' inside me and the need to always know I can earn money.

Oh and my East London accent gives it away as soon as I open my mouth! (Normally to order my pie mash and liquor)

Don't be silly Brasty we're not worthy of further sub stratification!

actually I wholeheartedly agree with you, you can still be WC and have a nice lifestyle/go to nice places/eat nice food

Now shhhhh! Before you upset somebody

Agree that charity shops are middle class.
What many middle class people do not understand is that in our culture, there is a great shame in being poor. So those who are working class go out of their way to try and show they are not really poor. So would never shop in charity shops, but would in market stalls, and try and make sure their kids do not miss out at christmas by buying lots of presents.

Hi don' t think that shopping in chazza shops is a MC thing.

I live in a flat above a shop.
I have long fake acrylic nails.
I love a spray tan.
I drink cider straight from the can. Prefer it to wine to be honest.
I absolutely love KFC.
Don't have a dining table.

And you like to write poetry.

I'll always be working class though. It's the 'fight' inside me and the need to always know I can earn money.

^ This.

I'm always shocked at my MC friends who, when they've been out of work, have been happy to take loans/handouts from parents rather than graft a bit.

If I was inbetween jobs which I never am because my working class work ethic doesn't allow this to happen I'd do anything and everything before I'd take money from anyone.

MC friends seem very comfortable to 'wait for the right opportunity' which makes me

MissAlabamaWhitman I actually think it is middle class people who see working class people as one big group. Just like I see the upper class as one big group. But that is because I don't know anyone upper class and don't understand the distinctions. Whereas someone upper class would break that group down into two or more sub divisions.

And upper working class people are usually very well off. They are the ones buying large new build 5 or 6 bedroom houses with its own small drive.

Oh, and I love designer handbags. I have four.

Also I am not university educated, nor are any of my family.

My wc friend used to get a phone call from his mum on a Sunday evening, he would never say 'oh I'm just eating my tea can I ring back'. One time I had cooked a nice meal and when the phone rang I said 'can you ask if you can ring them back? Just so we can eat the meal together?', which he did.

Within an hour, every single one of his aunties from both sides of his family had phoned to find out what was wrong, and why he couldn't speak to Pat.

That's either a bonkers thing or a wc thing, I was never sure.

Bit confused by the 'breakfast, dinner and tea' thing. I always thought dinner was the hot meal - so breakfast, lunch (if sandwich), dinner but breakfast, dinner (if hot), tea (sandwich). What've I missed all these years??!!

Ah well

We shop where we like
Large house
Cleaner
Home in France
DH has a silly car
DC went to independent schools

He is still working class. Because his background was working class. His class is not defined by what he earns or the lifestyle he can purchase.

Butchy I'm very eloquent

Middle working class people i.e. nursery nurses, that kind of occupation, have the cleanest houses. I know many middle class people who have messy untidy and dirty houses. Usually the only thing that makes most middle class houses truly clean, is the money to pay for a cleaner.

TBH I don't love the 'forever unemployed' being classed as working class.

Since they don't ever work. A lot of MC people think of that kind of attitude as being working class because of the media but to me, it's completely against the hard working, proud working class attitudes I know.

I'm WC but I'd never buy a new build because to me they're wholly bourgeoisie, which isn't in any way desirable.

I'd rather have my big old Victorian semi where I need to park my cars on the road.

Yes brasty. My SIL has a horror of people thinking she may be poor. A real source of shame for her. Even though nobody ever would. She has a traditional middle class job, owns her own home outright, listens to opera and has a large kitchen garden.

But those associations of poor = second hand clothes/goods have really stuck.

Lets face it, it is exceptionally rare for people to have friends and socialise with others from a different class isn't it? Can anyone say they have good friends from a totally different class? I don't mean people who you just say hello to.

OhtheRoses Certainly a middle class lifestyle though.

TeaCake

I'm working class born and bred and now in Surrey so yep, always mixing.

My close friend in the example I gave is wc, I'm middle class.

Not that people in Surrey can't be working class...I suppose what I mean is I'm now living in an entirely middle class world.

MC friends, DP, etc. Most colleagues are MC but not all. The COO I work with is a proper working class scouser so we get on pretty well.

Upper class to me - royal family and aristocracy
Middle class - top lawyers, doctors, CEOs etc
Working class - the rest of us grin

Yup, that's how I surmise it all

stumbly but working class born. Do you or others see you as middle class now?

I only have WC friends. My DS has quite a few MC ftiends tnough. They had bigger free houses when their parents went on holiday.