Now we know who is middle class - next, who is posh?

[Takver]

following on from this thread I was tickled yesterday by two definitions of what is posh:

• talking to a friend about croquet, which I think is a really tedious game, her answer was that only posh people play croquet, and that the problem was that I was not posh enough . . .
• and description by dd's friend (age 8) of the woman her mum cleans for that she is 'really posh, she has double sky that you can record on as well as watch, and a fountain that looks like stone but is really made out of plastic, and loads of trophies from horseriding' So now I want the collective wisdom of MN - apart from croquet playing and fake stone fountains, what is really, really posh ?

QC: I shall show my MC and decidedly non-posh credentials. Is 'beaver' a mis-spelling or an in-joke?

I was being rude

"I was being rude"
You are sooo posh!

Nah, I am not posh. I do not possess:

• a title
• a country estate
• an aga
• a horse
• a dog
• dirty cracked old spode

And moreover I work for a living!! See, I have absolutely zero in the posh credentials. Even though I do know that Belvoir is pronounced Beaver and use it to exasperate my mother.

ahhhhh

I liked my joke though.

I have been reflecting about helen's remarks that perhaps I should feel awkward about my issues with class, and concluded that, frankly 'no' I shouldn't...I will, quite rightly, continue to be hugely impatient with it all

The only people worthy of some deference and who are 'better' (and then only in their selected 'fields') are:

• those with greater moral integrity
• accomplished authors, scientists etc
• people possessing rapier wit
• etc

...i.e. specific talents deserve plaudits, it's not (or shouldn't be) about who people are and who they know, but about what they can do

.... people merit respect for the qualities they possess and the contribution they make, which has nothing to do with where they were educated...what they call their lounge/living room/sitting room/withdrawing room, whether they are called Jemima etc

I don't think that is chippy, it's reasonable to be just a little impatient and scathing towards people who use the weapon of class to claim superiority. It's not a valid basis for distinction, it's the resort of the weak (who have nothing else to offer)

Also irritated by deference and cap doffing - such as "they have nothing to prove" and other such statements on this thread

Basically I'm a meritocrat on a short fuse

I loved your joke Pointy and plan to use it on my mother at the first opportunity.

im posh.obviously.duh

i have proper crystal wine glasses.oh and an ensuite.3 toilets.ummmmm i have wellintons that i actually use!

people think my accent is posh but its because i live in cornwall and have a mix/nowhere accent.

oh good quatt . It has amused me no end

i had a chuckle also

You are so obviously not posh, why you call loos (or lavatories) toilets!!!!

Did you not know that it was preferable to have one stinking grimy festering old hole and refer to it as the loo?

You've just outed yourself as middleclass my dear.

Come and join the middleclass thread. We drink out of clean cups.

oh buggery

Oh someone argue with me goddammit. I'm feeling a bit arsey tonight

I refuse to argue with my social inferiors

Lol, very good.

i cannot possibly.to argue would be to degrade myself i think.

Re: "It's not a valid basis for distinction" and to paraphrase - those that use class as an argument have nothing else to offer - hmm, well i am not sure what your argument is.

is it - that the class system is pants and those who claim superiority becuae of this system are pants?

if so i agree.

however when talking about a current system of social order - which quite clearly does involve a class system of posh schools and social networks that we all know exist- then i think its perfectly valid to use the class system as an argument about the society in which we live - becuase erm...we live in it and it erm...exists..currently iyswim?

i think there is something to argue in there HMC

Re: "It's not a valid basis for distinction" and to paraphrase - those that use class as an argument have nothing else to offer - hmm, well i am not sure what your argument is.

is it - that the class system is pants and those who claim superiority becuae of this system are pants?

if so i agree.

however when talking about a current system of social order - which quite clearly does involve a class system of posh schools and social networks that we all know exist- then i think its perfectly valid to use the class system as an argument about the society in which we live - becuase erm...we live in it and it erm...exists..currently iyswim?

i think there is something to argue in there HMC

To think anyone is "beneath you" is nothing to be proud of. To value people for what they are or what they can do rather than for whether they have been good at acquiring and holding on to resources is something to be proud of.

I was taught that a lady (or gentleman) had excellent manners. Clearly William's friends didn't have the right sort of nanny if they were rude to Kate Middleton.

Despite the obsession in this country with class the old system is breaking down and what is replacing it isn't always an improvement.

Custardo, I think you have hit it completely.
Our society is very unequal and has relatively little social mobility compared to many other countries in Europe. If that's not a class system, what is.
And I don't believe that other unequal countries are that much different - I don't believe that a rich American from the East Coast who went to Harvard would buddy up immediately with a farm labourer from South Carolina, nor that they wouldn't see class differences between them in behaviour, expectations, etc.

Suziseis - no, dh doesn't have your favourite name! It's of that ilk though...

wilbur - my task for today is to guess it !

Dittany - The titles are part of their family heritage aren't they?