To think I am not posh?

[gprc]

Recently had a plumber over to fit a new tap as the old one was caput, who told me he thought I was very posh whilst I gave him a MUG of tea. This was in our tiny two bed flat that we’ve just scraped to afford, not in a very naice area.

I do have a rather posh accent but there are definitely sometimes hints of Lancashire. I work for a big firm in the city. I did go to Oxford. I do sound a bit posh, and I do write well.

I went to a local comprehensive school up North. My mum was the first in her entire family to go to an actual university. Her father was an engineer! Her family is proper salt of the earth type!

My dad did go to a boarding school. I’d say they’ve got middle class pretensions.

AIBU to think I am not posh, and indeed it is wrong to judge people purely on accent! He gave me a real look of askance when I told him, oh don’t be silly I’m working class.

People think I'm posh but I also went to a comp, Dad first in his family to Uni etc.

If you use "received pronunciation " then you will be thought posh sometimes.

I got called posh once
I was in Grangemouth though.

I don’t think you sound like you come from a working class background tho, with the education your parents had.

I used to deliver training. One day the topic of being ‘posh’ came up and the whole group (adults) assumed I was posh. I asked what they ‘assumed’ I was like and my life.

Their answers:-
I talked posh
My kids went to private school
I had a big detached house
I had a posh car
My dp had a very good job
All my family went to university
I went skiing each each plus a few other holidays
My parents were wealthy
I ate smoked salmon several times a week (yes that was a reply!)
I must be really intelligent to get to my position so young

The reality?
I lived in 2 bed rented house
My kids went to the local schools
I went abroad once every 3 years
Only my brother and I went to uni
I came from a very troubled and violent home life
Dp worked in a local delivery firm
I had a decent car that was costing me a fortune!
I got to my position through bloody hard work!!

It goes to show- never judge a book by its cover!

My dad went to boarding school and his family are quite middle class but my dad's a builder and so far from posh it's laughable. My mum went to boarding school but came from a farming family so she's definitely not posh either. We were brought up in a rough neighbourhood and none of us have been to university so I'm just putting it out there that boarding school doesn't always equal posh.
You should hear our accents

It's all relative but a dad who went to boarding school and a job in the City doesn't scream working class to me.

It's all relative. When I went to college people thought I was posh because I didn't pronounce coke 'kerk'. When I went to university I realised how far from posh I actually was!

I came on to say exactly what cariadlet said. So - that.

You're mum went to Uni, your dad went to boarding school.

You are working class, how?!?

I love the fact you say ‘her Father was an engineer!’ as if that’s akin to saying he was a bin man or a miner. Engineers are often very intellingent, depends which area I suppose but my DP needed to go to uni to become one.

You sound very middle class to me, not working class in the slightest. Your parents both went to uni and your Dad’s family were wealthy enough to send him to boarding school. That coupled with the fact you have an Oxford education does not scream working class...

So 'your' not 'you're'. See that's the level of education you get from a proper 1980's working class comp, like me.

So out of interest what else would you have put the tea in?
His outstretched hand?
Straight from the kettle?

I love the fact you say ‘her Father was an engineer!’ as if that’s akin to saying he was a bin man or a miner

Yes! I thought that too! I would consider engineer a firmly middle class job!

The mug obviously didn't take attention away from your billiard room. Invest in a Sports Direct mug, that will throw them off the scent.

People say weird stuff when they're in slightly awkward positions, don't take it personally. He probably went home wondering why he'd said something so ridiculous. He probably meant you were kind, but his mouth failed him.

He was just having a joke with you, relax.

Middle class

Mostly because otherwise you wouldn't care who thought you were posh

And, Oxford, boarding school etc

Did u give him builders tea? I could never be called posh as I only drink builders tea and I sound like I’m from the cast of EastEnders!! I do have posh friends I also have common as muck friends and I like and respect them all. Just be yourself in life and be as nice as you can!! That’s my moto!!

How is it that you went to Oxford and landed a big job in the city that you are always skint and living in a -crappy- humble 2 bed flat in a not very nice part of the city?

dang....strikethrough fail...

OP: "Recently had a plumber over to fit a new tap as the old one was caput, who told me he thought I was very posh whilst I gave him a MUG of tea".

Your highlighting of the MUG is interesting. It tells us that you know that mugs are not posh, ergo, you are not posh however if you were truly not posh you wouldn't even think twice about a mug (versus a cup and saucer presumably) and in fact would consider "posh" if the mug wasn't chipped, stained or sported a dubious slogan.

I think you are pseudo posh.

The fact you'd care enough to start a thread on this means you are self-conscious middle class.

You're right to think you're not posh but he probably wouldn't know posh if it got up and bit him.

In recent times I've thought some plumbers and builders have been quite posh compared to how they were years ago. Times have changed.

‘her Father was an engineer!’

Aren't some of the hardest degrees engineering ones?

Port side Out, Starboard Home. That's about as much as I know about being 'posh'. Summit to do with boats, allegedly. Only ever been on that ferry that goes from Plymouth to Calais to buy duty-free, and can't remember what side of the boat I was standing on (blame the duty-free).

You sound upwardly mobile to me, same as me. My definition of posh is having inherited wealth. My son goes to "posh" school but definitely does not consider himself posh because he knows I have worked for every penny we have.