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.

Posh compared to him.

Can’t you be posh if you’re northern?

The issue is not being northern but sounding northern (or any other regional accent.) For example, I believe if you met a posh Scotsman, you wouldn't know he was Scottish from his accent.

My dad's job title was engineer, what he meant was he controlled a metal cutting machine in a factory for barely more than minimum wage. Bit different from, say, a Cambridge graduate engineer on a massive wage! Engineer can mean anything.
I agree OP is obviously not working class and think the builder was having a bit of an eye roll. Like an OP said, if you say to someone who was, for example, expected to leave school at 16 from a low income family that you are just like them with your Oxford degree and a private school/uni educated background you give the impression that you don't know you're born.

Of course you are not working class. Your mother went to university. Your dad went to boarding school. Your grandfather was an engineer - which is a profession. You have a degree...but you don't know how to spell "caput", while saying you write well.

OP, am I "posh"? First on both sides of the family to go to university, one grandfather was a farmer, the other was a dustman, father was an RAF officer, mother was a nurse, I'm married to an Army officer. Apparently my accent is "cut glass". So, "posh" or not?

Lol @daisypond. So not only posh but thick as well. Another tick in the middle class box.

If you grew up in the North but you have a posh accent you are probably posh.

YABU. Who cares.

You’re definitely middle class aren’t you? I mean I think I’m middle class and I’m nowhere near you mum went to a college to gain a profession, dad is an area manager, went to state school, I am a professional with a ug degree from a poly and pg from a red brick.

@Shazafied I grew up in the north (Yorkshire) and don't even have a hunt of the local accent. Absolutely am not posh though!

I’m definitely not posh (no degree/parents met when they worked on adjacent market stalls!) and dad and his father were old school Labour, mum’s dad was a miner, so very working class. DH is...a plumber!! Who drinks from mugs!! 😱 However I have always loved reading and learning, and have been accused of being a Tory, being posh, “like Hermione” (from Harry Potter) and of going to public school, I think just because I speak fairly well.

I did have inherited wealth/privilege I guess from dad’s family who owned a lot of land/nice properties which probably added to the illusion.

I think your faux-indignance is a little cringeworthy, though. It’s not really an insult is it? He was probably just joking with you.

Hint. Not hunt. I got a new phone yesterday and my fat fingers can't type properly on it yet.

I was posh growing up - I lived in a bought house.
So yeah you sound posh 😂😂😂

I am incredibly working class and have a strong Geordie accent. However because of my job (in law) out of the UK, everyone in the UK is convinced I am at least landed gentry, but slumming it.

You don’t sound working class but the oxford thing make you sound like a boaster.

You sound quite upper-middle class to me. Like someone from a Hugh grant film. Not posh-posh though.

I once got called posh because my parents read the dailymail and not a red top! (I'm definitely not posh though - my mother is a cleaner, my father is a tiler, I've never actually met anyone who has ever been to Oxford or boarding school. I was the first member of my family to ever get A levels )

I'm so posh I got sent, by my pretentious mother to elocution lessons, my bil says he can tell I had lessons as I'm much posher than my sister, his wife, I think he's taking the piss.

I believe if you met a posh Scotsman, you wouldn't know he was Scottish from his accent. How posh are we talking? Aristocracy perhaps, but upper middle, privately educated sound perfectly Scottish. Unless you think Chris Hoy has an RP accent

Where does the mug fit in? I’m all agog to discover a new nuance to the English class system.

As an aside my 6yo has recently learnt the word posh from somewhere, has entirely misunderstood what it means and describes most things and people and himself as posh at the minute.

Not sure where the link is but I’m sure there is one.

Does it really matter? Who cares where your dad went to school, where you went to university, whether you serve tea in a mug or a teacup? Oh and who told you that you write well? Caput? Real look of askance? Seriously?

You sound like you want to be viewed as being posh .
If you have to work to live then you’re working class . Well spoken and well educated , but working class none the less .

purple that's really not how class works in the UK.

University educated going back two generations, some family members privately educated, yep, by most tradesmen's standards you're 'posh' alright.