Germphobia is a class thing, isn't it?

[tenbob]

Full disclosure: I'm slightly fascinated by the posters here who won't wash their hands on a towel at someone else's house, buy cakes at a school fair or use a public toilet for fear of germs, and admit to being the sort of person who eats stuff past the sell-by date if it passes the sniff test

But I've just spent a couple of days working at a food fair type thing and noticed a definite class divide in germ tolerance

There was no end of stereotypical posh families who would share their ice cream with the Labrador, eat food that had fallen on the floor etc

And the mums (it was always the mums) who were obsessively wet wiping everything were non-posh

Can you prove or debunk my theory?
And if I'm right, why are the upper classes so relaxed about dirt?

pebbles

A friend of mine from Cork told me years ago that her mum used to call immaculate houses 'as clean as a Protestant's house'
Which was apparently a back-handed compliment...

I hate having to take my shoes off when I go to someone's house. It feels so...well, it puts you in your place, doesn't it. Your place in the hierarchy is below the floor's. Also, what if you go for a nice meal or party, get all dressed up, and then have to stand around in your stocking feet?

It's also practicalities. Our house is very old and big and needs a bloody fortune to run and repair so we would never dream of spending money on a new sofa when an old second hand will do .

We don't need to keep up with any Jones's because we are the Jones's ( sounds bad but I hope people know what I mean).

@tenbob I can imagine my grandmother's face if someone said that to her!

Agree with you that it's fashion, glovepuppet. I actually think hard floors are more of a pain to keep looking presentable (though obviously have the advantage that it's hard to wreck them with spillages etc.) - we have carpets upstairs and hard floors downstairs and even though they're quite light coloured the carpets seem to take longer to look like they need hoovering than the hard floors do.

I don't know if agree with this, but it could be understandable that attitudes might develop because poorer people are more likely to face stigma for not being clean, and to want to fight an unfair stereotype that poor = dirty and slovenly, whereas the wealthy have no such worries. Plus traditionally always had other people to clean up after them to prevent things getting too revolting.

I think you’re analysing this wrong.

If you’re UC and filthy it’s an ‘eccentricity’.

If you’re WC and filthy it’s ‘neglectful’.

UC people have less reason to give a shit about what other people think.

I teach at a private school where there is a very busy second hand uniform shop

Yes, 'new money' wc types tend to buy new, they also seem to be the ones who dress their children the same, to show they can afford 3 different sizes of the same t-shirt. I know a few, they have immaculate homes with white carpets, even in the childrens' bedrooms

I live in a very wc area and you see the women out scrubbing the doorstep and sweeping the front path, but you also get the slovenly types me

Really interesting thread.

Yes I'd say this is true although I'd never considered it before. I believe it comes from a keeping up with the jones sort of thing. People with no money can feel inferior so they need / want to show they aren't slovenly.
In a lot of people's mind, germs = dirt / dirty.

It depends OP, I find on MN people usualky think posh are normal people and non posh are some imaginary Jeremy Kyle sub culture. So if you mean landed gentry are dirty fuckers and every one else (upper middle, middle, working classes) have potential to be germophobes there is an element of truth in that. But there always is when you’re talking about a generalisation covering 90million
People (in the U.K.)

Although tbf the cleanest people I know are non British and generally see all British homes as filthy. Particularly the Spanish and, Italians

We don't need to keep up with any Jones's because we are the Jones's

it made me laugh because it's true.

It's a bit like the "poor" kids in private schools sticking out like a sore thumb in pristine brand new uniforms, when the more settled kids happily wear hand me down, don't care if they destroy them whilst playing.

I went through long periods of time in my home country not having health insurance or being able to afford healthcare without it. I also have some immune system issues.

Those are the reasons I became very careful about germs. I simply couldn't afford to be ill.

generally see all British homes as filthy. Particularly the Spanish and, Italians
I am sure they exist, but I have never seen a Spanish or Italian house with carpets.

People seem to think that all british homes are "quaint", small and cosy, and mainly terraced

Well yes, because many of them
think carpets are filthy

I always joke that it's lucky for me I managed to claw my way into the lower middle class .Because in a million years I will never be clean enough to be respectable as a working class woman.

I'm thoroughly we and not house proud.

I wonder which nation is the cleanest. Japan (as seen on TV ) always strikes me as being very clean with those singing dancing toilets they have. And of course, shoes off which I love but no fecker here will ever oblige me.

People without money and networks are always judged. In the past they were genuinely regarded as more like the animals and less human so being extremely clean and houseproud is a way of proving that wrong.

Rich people don’t worry about being referred to social services for having an unclean home.

I am WC and common as muck, and a germphobic
I couldn't care less what people think of my home, but germs freak me out and there are no carpets in this house to give them a place to live!

You're totally right.

Same for second hand clothes. Working class people look down their nose at second hand clothes and dress their children immaculately. It's the middle classes who are happy to dress their children in hand me downs.

My father once joked that he wouldn't wash his car because it was a lower middle class thing to do!