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?'

Working class upbringing, not sure what I am now (well educated but not that well off financially). Here's what I notice compared to my MC raised friends:

A bluntness I have to rein in at times. I grew up with people who called a spade a fucking shovel and I find it tiresome when people don't say what they mean.

A horror of children being unkempt in public and making a SHOW of themselves and me.

A fear of debt or unemployment even though I'm not lazy or extravagant.

The last two above are definitely a result of insecurity. I wasn't poor growing up but there was no question of arsing round "finding myself" like my friends with better-off parents, in fact it still shocks me how even 40somethings I know get handouts..

All this talk about clean houses makes me laugh. How may times do you see theads on here about people terrified about buying a house that social housing will mean rubbish everywhere

This stereotype is nothing to do with WC people.

It's about the underclass. Working class people are generally aspirational, hard working and proud. The underclass are lazy, feckless and happy to never work.

It's funny about names, my youngest is called Raphael.

All of my MC friends thought that I'd named him after a turtle

My WC family understood that he was named for the archangel.

Yes to the jogging! And cycling too....i don't see many cyclists or joggers in WC areas.

I think one of the main indicators of a MC household is the presence of a piano! Particularly an acoustic one.

I'm my experience, children of WC households do not learn musical instruments, and that's a shame.

They learn the recorder at school Bugger!!

Nancy was just going to say I know plenty of working class people who drive Bentley's, Range Rovers and Ferraris. Lots of people with money are proud to be working class. We don't all aspire to be middle class.

Tea

I'd say it varies markedly by region but around here the social housing is very much the preserve of the lower working/underclass. Those solely or mostly reliant upon benefits.
We don't have a surplus of social housing so most WC people whom I know are either homeowners with mortgage or in private rentals.

I agree about musical instruments in my generation, but all the kids in my family have learned one. This has been free through school.

As someone else said not sure about Center Parcs for working class. I keep vainly checking their website hoping for a deal but can just not afford to go, at least not in school holidays which we are limited to.

Well not all WC people are on low incomes whatithink

Lots of us go to CP.
Most people whom I've met at CP have had regional accents for example.

I think we can safely say Kate Middleton is royalty now, not middle class. By the way, I absolutely love Carol Middleton. Good luck to them.

Being obsessed with Christmas presents and worrying that you haven't given enough of them to everyone in your life.

Genuine working class people keep their children spotless and well clothed. It's a matter of pride

And their houses are spotless, too.

whatithink

If you're anywhere up north try Ribby Hall. It's like a mini center parcs and I actually prefer it if DC are younger.
It's roughly two thirds the price of Center Parcs. I went for a week last summer for little over 1K.

Not all WC are poor. My grandad went to work in the factory when he was 15 and he retired at 50 as the company director, mortgage all paid off. Similar stories with his DC. My DM is the only one who still has a mortgage but she was the only one who was a single parent.

Oh I go to the hairdressers for a 'curly blow' at least three times a month.
Stick that to the end of my 'WC credentials list'

I think I have a very upper middle class life, I don't work (through choice - independently wealthy), I have lots of money and nice things but to be honest I feel more working class in general. I grew up in a deprived area of South Wales, my mum was a single mum on benefits for a lot of my childhood.
I left school with 0 GCSEs.
I struggle a lot with being a working class rich person I can't bare to have anything "posh"

I don't think charity shops denotes working class. I had an ex boss who was very snobby and aspirational, but came from a very poor part of Barnsley. She was utterly horrified at the idea of second hand anything. It was ever so funny hearing her accent slip when she got stressed...

'Tea' not 'Dinner' or 'Supper'.
Body or ear piercing at a young age.
Certain tattoo's like full sleeves, tribal or chinese writing.
'Innit', 'You Alright...', 'See ya's laters'...'you havin' a laff'.
Text speak and selfies with fake pout.
Buying designer clothing - certain brands like Superdry.
Pontins holidays.
Catalogues delivered to the door so you can have stuff on credit...Brighthouse...
Aspiring to be a pop singer or a model or a celebrity.
Soap opera die hard fans.
The latest mobile phone on an absurdly expensive contract.
Waiting for payday because there is never enough in the bank to last a month.
Doing a modern appenticeship to get a so-called working-class job. Although plumbers and hair-dressers tend to earn more qualified than the students I teach upon graduation!

WC kids usually learn to play the guitar not the piano.

Google Charlie Mullins of Pimlico Plumbers for a very good example of upper working class - it's not about money, it's about where you come from

ooooh...I forgot...

Net curtains
Dangly toys and gadgets on the mirror in the car
Smoking
Drinking cheap cider to get 'lashed' before a big night out

Charity shops are MC, none of my family would step foot in one

Upper working class people are usually defined as being hardcore tory voters.