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.

My inlaws think I am posh because I like Mediterranean restaurants.
Ridiculous.

Remember, Buck-ay not Buck-et.

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

How many engineers do you know? I meet lots during my work and almost all are as sweary, hairy arsed, greasy fingered as they come but I know that they are actual engineers as it says so in their email signatures.

I also know a few posh Scots and it seems to be more that their accent gives away that they are from somewhere other than Glasgow.

Genuinely interested in the accent thing though. I am degree educated with professional qualifications with all the 'right' middle class interests such as Radio 4, the outdoors, cooking from scratch with vegetables, books, museums, etc etc and no interest in showy possessions, Brits on the piss type AI holidays or tabloid newspapers but my parents are definitely working class and I still have my regional accent.

SIL has in the past has accused me of being posh, due to my interests and tendency to speak using an 'indoor voice' which is an alien concept to her.

Oh yes, preferring independent restaurants serving foreign cuisine is 'posh' apparently .

I also went to Oxford and work for a big firm in the city (Bristol Rovers beat Oxford United 2-0 and Primark is one of the biggest shops in the city of Bristol). I also live in a small flat, and I would never describe anywhere in Bristol is "naice". Maybe it was when you tutted when he didn't use the tongs to put the sugar lumps in his MUG of tea or when you offered him a chocolate covered hob-nob on a plate rather than a digestive out of the packet that made him think you were posh.

Come off it, OP. You’re third-generation professional middle class, and you are perfectly well aware of that.

It all depends where you are I think! I find it hilarious because I think DP's family and friends from down south in Herts think I'm common as muck and make fun of my accent (with love) but back home (Lancashire/GM border) I get told CONSTANTLY how posh I sound. All relative I guess.

A posh Scottish accent still sounds Scottish but I could not tell where in Scotland they are from.
My accent has toned down over the years as I no longer live in scotland but it’s an obvious Glesca accent. Something I would never want to change.

Tatty - I know !

does it REALLY matter if people think you're posh ? i don't understand this at all, i've been called 'posh' in part due to my home counties accent and is completely different to my local one. if people think i'm posh or a snob[i don't go out of my way to behave that way] then that's not my concern. i just don't care.

You are not working class. My mum and dad are working class - there is no way they would’ve ever gone to university. My dads dad was a miner. My mum got an admin job in an office and my dad went in the army, and then got a job fixing TVs and radios, then mobile phones. I was the first in my family to go to university and I’ve now stayed down south for my job which only pays £26k and I’m 30. I really hate it when clearly middle class people say they are working class.

Redpanda I’m from Herts, living in GM. Everyone assumes I’m posh but I grew up on a council estate 🤗

Posh is not about money, it's about background. You are posh.

If your dad was privately educated your posh. For my family there was no chance of ever beingpricately educated. Are you being sarcastic?

For one thing, posh is relative, even more so than 'class', but by anybody's books I would think you were quite posh. I don't really understand why we all have to scramble over each other trying to prove we're the most working class. There's nothing inherently wrong with being middle class. Embrace the quinoa.

Depends whether posh means middle class or whether it means posh.

I would say you are posh.
A father who went to boarding school is a big indicator nulls he was on a scholarship.

My parents both grew up poor, on council estates.
Dad went to Uni as he was intelligent but the family never had a penny.

I went to a local comp, I managed to get into a good uni but had all the maximum loans etc.

People think I'm posh because I don't have a strong accent.

I don't think my mum has ever stepped in a Waitrose store :D

I have to say that, as an American, this thread is one of the reasons that I am on MN. Very entertaining, while giving insight into the mysteries of the British class system.

I don't think I've ever asked this before, but is this a stealth boast? Cuz that's what it sounds like.

From what I've seen here having a generic British accent, without a discernible regional dialect will often get you a posh label.

I have to say that, as a Swede, criiiinge at the preoccupation with class among some people in the UK.
Fascinating, isn't it, Seneca?
Relax, OP. Class has nothing to do with merit, nor is it a reflection on your character. It is a big, fat irrelevance.

OP, you know perfectly well you aren’t working class. Plumbers usually are. It is very unlikely that this is the first time that a working class person has called you “posh”. It happens to most middle class Northerners on a pretty much weekly basis. What are you getting out of this thread?

An engineer! Heavens! Was his name Isambard Kingdom Brunel?

Oh do give over.

You have a a good accent. According to the plebs.

You're not posh. You just want to feel special

Poshness is very subjective. Round here you are posh if you take the pots out of the sink before pissing in it.

Who told you that you write well?