to wonder if mumsnet is a haven for very well off and slightly blinkered individuals.....?

[preparetobeflayed]

Obviously I have changed my name on this thread as I am prepared for the onslaught.....

Threads about Boden, how sad they are that their jumper from Boden has been pilling, 'oh woe is me my nanny has called in sick', 'I am hard up now the tax band has increased (although I am still earning £170,000....

Where are the rest of the population who reflect most of the parents I meet. I also wonder whether some people are able to look around and see what else is happening in the world....?

(Just having a bit of a rant about some of the other threads I guess......

Teehee at calling the pedants pendants, intentional?

YABU OP, there are loads of commoners on here too, did you not see the candy thong thread?

I never saw Boden as aspirational tbh, more that it has historically been middle of the range clothing that lasts really well. If you have several DCs so can pass clothes down, Boden stuff will outlast all of them, which makes it good value. And - very importantly if you are a teensy bit anal like me - their T-shirts always stay the right shape - Drives me mad when you fold a T-shirt and the seams no longer line up!!! . Although I think waaaaay back when not many people bought their stuff it was a little bit 'different'...it loses that when every mum in the playground is wearing the same thing! .
These days however, I still like DCs' bits and bobs, but Johnny seems to be intent on making all women look like either like a) they have little or no dress sense or b) like their mother/grandmother!
And, sadly, the quality isn't want it was, thus the pilling and bobbling!

Fourkids - I was being rather tongue in cheek earlier. I have no intention of leaving nor do I really feel out of place. I might not 'fit' any particular label but I don't think it really matters. Or does it?

I don't agree with the OP and tbh and always amazed that people seem to think MN goes on about Boden since I don't see any posts about it from one season to the next except to say, why is MN obsessed with Boden? But then I don't go looking for trouble.

I also don't like her assumption that you can only talk about certain things - that if you talk about your Boden cardie pilling then you can't also be talking about 3rd world debt or the ins and outs of the latest economic policy. Why do people need to fit into a box and have a label slapped on them?

I actually think that the very fact that MN is on the internet and is therefore a written medium makes it more likely to be a MC thing. Who is more likely to have regular access to a computer and who are sufficiently eloquent to be comfortable with writing their thoughts? It is on balance the MC.

That is not to say that anybody who isn't MC isn't welcome or that everybody who is WC is illiterate thickos - they quite obviously aren't. I think most people are made very welcome here, it is just the nature of the beast that means that possibly a majority of people who come and stay to talk about more than nappies and weaning are more likely to be MC.

I have a horrible feeling that I haven't expressed myself very well on this and am about to be met with indignation from some quarter or another. I'll say now, I honestly don't mean to offend anybody!!!

Do you ever get the feeling that niecie has never met a working class person?

No I don't get that feeling at all.

didn't all most of the 'very well off and blinkered' budge off to an ungoogleable zone leaving the hoi polloi over here to wallow in their ordinariness?

sorry, have only read the OP. must go back to bed.

at Niecie...

mrsruffallo, whover you are (not you obviously...whoever one is etc), whatever you do and wherever you live i think it would be pretty difficult to have never met a working class person!

at foxytocin

Mrs Ruffallo I am a bit irritated by your comment actually.

Of course I know plenty of WC people, my family are WC. That is how I know that not every WC person has a computer. Plenty don't in fact. I also have yet to meet a MC person who doesn't have one, even the 'MC but poor' like we have been recently. It wouldn't be surprising therefore that more MC people post on MN.

But actually I don't like this MC/WC differentiation. I don't think the boundaries are clear enough to warrant having distinct classes any more. I think society is more a spectrum or a spread of people. Who is to say where one class starts and another class ends? I'm kind of making it up as I go along here but my idea MC is not necessarily anybody else's MC.

The only exceptions I make to this are the poorest underclass of society who still live in poverty and don't have access to most of what society has to offer in any way and the upper classes who are out on their own. In reality that isn't a very large portion of the population.

I agree the class boundaries are more blurred than they used to be, and you can also move classes. I used to be in the underclass bracket, emergency council hostel, income support, etc. Now I'm doing a degree, and will be working as a psychologist in the future. My values will still be working class, and hopefully I'll be able to wear my big hoop earrings to work!

Junglist1 - You have provided a really good example of why ad hoc distinctions between WC and MC are pretty pointless and a bit of a false construct.

By having a degree and working as psychologist you will seemingly become MC at least as far as any objective demographic classification goes.

And yet you still consider yourself as WC with WC values so not really MC at all.

You might fit somewhere on a spectrum of class, if you were inclined to do such a thing, but to fit you in a box and slap a label on you saying you are one thing or another is just not right.

amusingly, I found myself acting all MC yesterday. Saw a parked white van with an england flag flapping oout of the back, and muttered to my dh, 'bet he's from a low socio economic group' Anyway turns out is acquaintance of Dh who owns massive great house, several business and sends kids to best school in area. Was sniffing angrily at this for hours afterwards...

Serves you right! @coolio

at coolma

You'll be reading the DM next.

not sure why op namechanged, hardly an original thread...i disagree anyway, i think mn is a haven for the bored and lonely.

...er ...quite like Mail on Sunday actually..

I love Boden kids..but only on sale

Fair enough Coolma

I'm not going to judge one way or the other - I like the Express!!

Daftpunk, is that why you come on here then?

I will admit to being bored (essay needs writing by the end of the day) although not in the least lonely. Actually I could do with a few more hours to MN work without the children so definitely not lonely.

and here's me thinking that MN is a haven for those who like to talk about mooncups and bumsex!if they're blinkered ,suggest taking the gimp masks off! .lol ( am off to primark after the school run , no boden here!)

Niecie...i must admit i only come on here when i'm bored...which is alot as i'm a sahm with school age dc....but i'm sure thats true for most of us....what are the most popular topics...chat and aibu (ok..pregnancy has alot of threads)...so that shows most people are using mn as a social networking site...agree?....if it wasn't for about 7/8 posters i wouldn't bother as much as i do....i really like some of the people on here....the feeling is always one way unfortunately...

"not all the wc have a pc" "mostly mc have a pc" pmsl- ah how the times have changed, used to be if you had a phone( house phone,not mobile) you were posh! or a telly in your bedroom!

hiya sweetie, shall we go a bit loveie now darling?

The only time I've ever seen Boden mentioned on MN is when it is used as a term of abuse for anyone middle class or affluent as in 'Boden wearing women' said with a sneer, in much the same way that other poor unsuspecting MNers may sneer at anyone who buys all their clothes from JJB sports, and wears earrings a chiahuaha could jump through, or the biggest crime of all, uses the 'C' word. They face life inprisonment I think, as it is actually illegal on MN and the left-wing stasi will come for you. But sneering at Boden customers would appear to be perfectly legal, in fact I'm sure it's to be encouraged, as so far, inverted snobbery has not been outlawed.

And in answer to your original question, Yes, YABU, becuse you only have to look at any thread where someone alludes (deliberately or otherwise) to being middle class and affluent, and as sure as night follows day you will see an outpouring of bile and spite and derision, which if it were conducted in real life and not cyberspace, would probably result in a guillotine being wheeled out, or a public stoning at the very least.

that would be imprison, sorry for typo. Just thought I'd point that out before someone takes delight in suggesting I'm clearly semi-literate in spite of hinting that I might be middle-class.

drlove8...what do you mean "pretend"...i watch coast you know..and grand designs...