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.

It's not the tea, it's your accent. You're posh, deal with it

A lot of truly posh people are skint in cash terms but asset rich. The assets eat their money. If you're properly posh you wouldn't bat an eyelid at the suggestion

I constantly have to deal with people saying to me (their voices filled with surprise and wonder) “Oh, well, you’re very well-spoken/posh, aren’t you?!” the moment I open my mouth.

Funnily enough, what’s insulting isn’t necessarily being labelled well-spoken/posh - it’s the fact that they sound so shocked/surprised. My practised retort is, “Oh really? I’m well-spoken/posh? Compared to whom?”, then stare intently with the vaguest of smiles as they stutter their way through various excuses.

Really though, we know it’s because they think people who look like me or live where I live all speak in a particular way, but sure, let’s play the ‘“Oh, I was just paying you a compliment!” game’. Yes, of course you were paying me a compliment 😉 ... while implicitly (and simultaneously) denigrating other people just like me ... 🙄

If you think you're posh/have to tell people you're posh; you're not posh.

Simple as that really.

@nerrsnerr
Arse in yer kerk 😂

You sound middle class. To some, that might be thought of as posh!
It's all relative.

You're very obviously middle class. Only the middle class see signet rings as posh. They are a traditional 18th/21st gift in both working and upper classes.

You don't see Engineering as a profession. You think a MUG is a class marker. Your father was privately educated. You think a two bed flat in London marks you as struggling.

You're not working class or upper class, so that leaves middle.

Have you dumbed down the quality of your writing for this post?

Only on mn do we need to reassure someone that they’re MC.

One does not think one is posh.

Grandfather with professional qualifications, graduate mother, boarding school father, work in the city and horrified at being told you have a fortunate background. Congratulations, you're the epitome of middle class.

By way of balance, my grandad was a steelworks labourer who left school at 14, my mum worked the late shift washing up in a restaurant, my dad was a train guard and no one went to university. If you're not posh, what the fuck does that make me?

Do you actually think that having a grandfather who was an ENGINEER is an indicator that you can't possibly posh? While you went to Oxford and have a privately educated father?

What's being posh got to do with being rich? Not the same thing at all. You may be scraping by but you can still be posh.

Yeah all those salt of the earth engineers, knees up mother brown-ing it all over the shop.

Can I play not posh bingo? Both parents in council houses, a bricklayer and a mechanic/driver as grandads. Parents don’t have an a level between them. Barely an o level. I was the first to go to uni. Got called posh at school. Weird. Fairly mc now. Married up don’t ya know.

I’ve got a few MUGS and I’m as posh as can be. I live in a listed building.

A typical engineer's family, circa 1937:

This, a hundred times this:

I think people who are clearly middle-class (Oxbridge educated, brought up with m/c expectations) claim w/c status as they don't want to acknowledge their privilege.

As others have said, it’s all relative.
I went to Oxford too and was generally regarded there as a bit chavvy (state school background, never been skiing, drank lambrini) but now I’m back where I grew up people often think I’m a bit posh (unplaceable accent, university education)

Someone from Manchester told me all southerners sound posh to her.

Growing up I was often told I was posh and it was all down to what I said and how. I wasn't posh as I agree that relates to money. We were as poor as church mice.

I was incredibly well spoken for a working class Scottish new town though so I think I can understand why.

Ironically when I moved to a "posher" area I was still thought of as posh and again it was all how I sounded. We were still poor.