Oh dear, I am irredeemably middle class...

[midnightexpress]

DS1 (3)already refers to all play car parks as 'The John Lewis car park'. When we are out, if he smells a bonfire or smoke from a chimney, he now declares loudly 'Mummy, I can smell a wood-burning stove'.

Bless im.

That's the great thing about children - they know not / care not about either!

Housecoat middle-class? I always thought they were a bit naff like furry slippers and toilet roll covers.

Housecoats to me shriek middle aged B&B landladies from Morecambe (with hair in curlers and cats bum mouths).

Lol at woodburners from Screwfix.

These threads crop up from time to time 'oh aren't my children so funny tee hee'

Yes, but aren't they all in unspeakable materials such as floral winceyette or quilted nylon?

when we moved to a new town when i was 5 on my first lunchtime at school i announced "well cook if you served up petits pois more children would eat them" in a very loud voice

and my parents were neither wealthy, snobby or middle class... god knows where i got that from

THIS is a housecoat.

Middle class my ARSE

no no no

housecoat = dressing gown

not a tabbard.

according to 1970'2 Lancashire

I don't think anyone said housecoats were middle class, did they?

oh yes, there's nothing middle class about a housecoat! You'd wear one, hair in curlers, on your knees scrubbing your front step!

no, a housecoat is not an apron. it is basically a dress! knee length, with sleeves, button front, pockets to the side or big pocket along the front, normally in horrible big floral pattern! It is not not not not a blasted dressing gown

its not an apron or a dress its a hideous usually Peach coloured quilted nylon thing with buttons down the front and 2 pockets it has a collar and the sleeves are always too long we call our terry towelling bathrobe a housecoat but i know its not!!!

A housecoat is something you do with masonry paint you weirdos!

I have aprons for cleaning though to protect my clothes, they have a neckloop and a tie belt and cover neck to knee from splashes.

Slacking around in a glorified moo moo is neither attractive nor middle class, it's lazy.

ok Hec, you know best, you are right

Maybe the point is that your 'daily' wears a housecoat then?

My daily wears a shell suit.

My BF was having supper with us. While watching DS shovel all his food down, cabbage and all, she asked "is there any food you don't like?"

Ds thought for a bit and said "Im not really that keen on oysters".

He tried them once on holiday in France!

In Scotland we call them a housecoat or a dressing gown. The garment to cover your clothes when cleaning is an overall as in Mrs Overall.

Yes, my granny always wore one, definitely not called a housecoat, an overall or "peeny", usually in a lovely, blue, nylon, gingham pattern. She was totally 100% working class (worked as a cleaner and a lavatory attendant).

I am begining to suspect that there are two sub-types of housecoat.

Type A) quilted, nylon, floral, worn by idle women who think they are middle class but aren't quite, they don't have anything to do before getting dressed for lunch at the golf club. They don't play golf, just their DHs. They wear those kind of navy jackets with bronze anchor pattern buttons and have 'done' hair.

Type B) blue, thin nylon, pocketed. Apron style garment worn for housework hair is worn in curlers and scarf. Called a 'housecoat' in an attempt to sound smarter. Definately working class.

The housecoat should thus be seen as aspirational.

More research needed though. Should we apply for funding?

And I'd like to throw a negligee into the mix (metaphorically).

Negligees are definitely not worn to scrub your front step unless you have a not very well Hidden Agenda.