What makes a person 'common'?

[Karlwho]

In your opinion. Just interested.

Headbands on babies
Tattoos
Dummies on children past the age of 3

What’s wrong with kids playing outside? Surely if you live on a safe road without traffic then it’s far more wholesome for children to happily be riding bicycles and collecting bugs outside with their friends than sitting inside eating crisps in front of the television??

fake tans
large tattoos
stroppy aggressive behaviour
HD brows
smoking
oversized TVs
Going to supermarket in pyjamas

very high heels with very short skirts

I live on a council estate, own a staffie and have tattoos (only small one visible), used to smoke (not while walking as my DF said it was common!) and sometimes swear, we also own a hottub so I guess I am common according to this thread

Personally I would take it to mean rude, obnoxious and inconsiderate of others and nothing to actually do with money, tattoos or dogs.

Bad Swearing...just used in daily conversations, like they can’t string a sentence without effing this & that.
Gossiping in public
Smoking in the street, cigarettes or weed which seems to be becoming commonplace.
Littering
Being rude
Hot tubs
Loud obnoxious behaviour

Well you did ask!!

According to my DM (in the 1950s)

• wearing a black bra under a white blouse
• eating anything other than a small sweet in the street
• white stilettos
• dark red lipstick
• bright red nail polish
• bleached hair

She may just have been looking at our next-door-neighbours DDs...!

I just re read my post...Gossiping in public!? As opposed to private which is fine by me apparently

Swearing in context is not common.

The common swearing is when it's dropped into every day conversation...for example, do you take fucking sugar in your fucking cup of tea?

Dressing babies/kids in designer/skin-tight clothes

I’m dying for a fucking cuppa after reading that

Seriously though, today I am common as muck as I’m ill and still in pyjamas with a top knot and the toddler is eating McDonald’s while watching cartoons on our big telly. I also smoked like a chimney last night and have several tattoos. No names though so I lose a few points there I guess.

People who throw things out of their car windows or who drop litter in general. And even worse, people who spit in the street. Vile.

Most of these describe my across the road neighbours .

I'll add anyone wearing a Rangers or Celtic top, extra common points if paired with sovereign rings and/or huge gold chains and massive hoop earrings.

I always heard Pulp's Common People as a celebration rather than an indictment.

foot tattoos

People who put headbands on their babies

This thread is hilarious because people don't really understand the outdated term common. I'm a 60's born child so the idea of common people was a thing back then but times have changed and society has moved on.

The things my mother and granny thought common were, in no particular order.

Pierced ears on anyone.
Playing outside in the road unless you were older and riding your bike.
Council estates.
Having anything in your garden other than a well manicured lawn and beds, discreet swing sets were allowed.
Expecting anyone to remove their shoes on entering the house.
Use of the word lounge or settee, even worse, couch.
Gossiping in front gardens, they came round for a cup of tea.
Eating in the streets.
Smoking in the street.
Pubs.
Anyone being drunk, male or female.
Swearing unless appropriate.
Swearing in the street.
Shouting in the street.
Bottles for babies with tea or squash in them.
People with no regard for education.
People who didn't have bookcases filled with books, not Mills and Boon books either.
Tuna ffs, tuna. Common as muck apparently.

There's probably hundreds more but if the lists people have given make someone common, then I'm common according to them but I'm really not.

Nothing wrong with kids playing out Linguaphile
Nothing wrong with being common either.

Speak and write properly in English and at least one other language
Play at least one musical instrument well
Draw, paint, or do some other form of fine art well
Have read most of the literature in the Western canon, whenever possible in the original language
Understand enough science and mathematics to intelligently consider and discuss key issues that affect our world, such as climate change, vaccination, etc.

Thanks to the 2 cultures of English society I have yet to meet anyone who can do all of these. I have met people who can do the first four but their science and mathematical knowledge is always woefully inadequate but they are ignorant of that and pontificate anyway because they mistake eloquence for knowledge.

Tattoos on the side of ones hand (Cheryl Cole)
Foot tattoos
People who blast cheesy pop songs whilst ‘hinching’ their house/ flat
Huge headbands on baby girls
Fur around the hood of a baby girls pram
Eating anything from Greggs
Trampolines in back gardens and allowing their children to play on them until after midnight

*Speak and write properly in English and at least one other language
Play at least one musical instrument well
Draw, paint, or do some other form of fine art well
Have read most of the literature in the Western canon, whenever possible in the original language
Understand enough science and mathematics to intelligently consider and discuss key issues that affect our world, such as climate change, vaccination, etc.

This exchange reminds me of Mr Darcy and Miss Bingley discussing what constitutes a truly accomplished woman, and Elizabeth Bennett saying she'd never met any such paragon.

Also reading anything but the Times, the Guardian or the Independent.*

What has the poor Telegraph ever done to you?

Smoking whilst pushing a pram
Spitting in the street
Swearing loudly in public

Unemployed young adults drinking energy drinks. Why do they need energy?

@CountFosco, The Telegraph is 'common' because it supports Brexit. Come to think of it, people supporting Brexit are generally common.