Societal constructs

[tda]

Haha ,so I am elite! I would consider myself very much working class, my OH has a very good job at the moment, and we have savings, at the moment.
I am a supermarket tart, like some things from each so tend to use a different one each time. Our local M&S Foodhall is next door to aldi which is handy ?
We were poor growing up, my dad was a wagon driver, but then bought a local shed to park wagon in, then bought a derelict warehouse next door and started a business. He loved his work and was never well off.

 

[paddy555]

I used to ship in Aldi when it was within walking distance.

you must be upper class then. Most people take their old banger into the car park. If you can afford a "ship" ????

 

[paddy555]

Sorry for starting the supermarket thing - it seems to have taken off in all sorts of directions ?. I had no idea that some people felt so strongly about it (not people on the thread, but the stories of some relatives are eye-opening!).

don't be sorry, the supermarket thing has always been hilarious.
I always understood it as the

upper class M & S .waitrose and sainsbugs

middles Tesco and Asda

lower classes Aldi and Lidl.

Now the middles are actively using Aldi and Lidl and creating a problem in the class structure. (joke)

very good idea for a thread OP.

 

[Keith_Beef]

you must be upper class then. Most people take their old banger into the car park. If you can afford a "ship" ????

DYAC!

Of course I wanted to write that I used to shop in Aldi...

 

[Deltofe2493]

Can I please also note the amount of people who have mentioned having a dyson or fancy hoover to state where they think they are in society???

 

[j1ffy]

So according to the quiz on the bbc site (above) I am established middle class haha... try this one.... this says I am 'posh'https://www.countryliving.com/uk/news/news/a2593/english-vocabulary-upper-class-etiquette/
I grew up in a council estate in one of the more deprived areas of the West Midlands, parents manual/ carer work, had no car, didn't travel further than Barmouth for caravan holiday once a year. Attended local primary and then Comprehensive. I was the first in our family to gain a professional qualification. Never managed to have my own pony until I was 47 haha. Husband worked his way up from factory work to recovery services.
Interestingly when I was in my teens I was called posh by local kids because I learned to play the flute (free lessons at school) then took piano lessons!

I don't think the words listed by Hansons are to do with class...more to do with age ?

 

[Keith_Beef]

So according to the quiz on the bbc site (above) I am established middle class haha... try this one.... this says I am 'posh'https://www.countryliving.com/uk/news/news/a2593/english-vocabulary-upper-class-etiquette/
I grew up in a council estate in one of the more deprived areas of the West Midlands, parents manual/ carer work, had no car, didn't travel further than Barmouth for caravan holiday once a year. Attended local primary and then Comprehensive. I was the first in our family to gain a professional qualification. Never managed to have my own pony until I was 47 haha. Husband worked his way up from factory work to recovery services.
Interestingly when I was in my teens I was called posh by local kids because I learned to play the flute (free lessons at school) then took piano lessons!

Many of those differences are between British and American or between older and more recent images.

What does it say about me that I refer to the the meals if the day in English as "breakfast, dinner, supper" and in French as "déjeuner, dîner, souper"?

 

[tda]

What does it say about me that I refer to the the meals if the day in English as "breakfast, dinner, supper" and in French as "déjeuner, dîner, souper"?

See, that's why I'm working class, breakfast, dinner and tea here ?

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Breakfast, lunch and supper here. With occasional elevenses thrown in.

Tea was something we did when visiting relatives mid afternoon, sandwiches, cake etc.

Tho pre pandemic we might have occasionally gone out for dinner in the evening.

 

[DabDab]

Lol, on that one I'm lower middle class...... ?

Me too ?

 

[ycbm]

Now the middles are actively using Aldi and Lidl and creating a problem in the class structure. (joke)

They're creating a problem at the tills too, in Aldi, because they're too bloody posh to shove their shopping back in the basket and pack it properly on the packing shelf at the back! They're holding up the whole queue and increasing the prices for everyone by packing at the till ?‍

 

[DabDab]

They're creating a problem at the tills too, in Aldi, because they're too bloody posh to shove their shopping back in the basket and pack it properly on the packing shelf at the back! They're holding up the whole queue and increasing the prices for everyone by packing at the till ?‍

How do you know the ones not shoving it in their trollies are middle class??!!

 

[ycbm]

Me too ?

See, that's why I'm working class, breakfast, dinner and tea here ?

Dahlings, it should be breakfast, elevenses at 11, lunch (never before one o'clock), tea at 4, dinner at 8 and supper just before bed.

And it isn't afternoon until one's had ones lunch.

 

[ycbm]

How do you know the ones not shoving it in their trollies are middle class??!!

Because it wasn't like it before they discovered Aldi, I was a pioneer ?

 

[DabDab]

Because it wasn't like it before they discovered Aldi, I was a pioneer ?

Hmmm....I don't believe you. I think it is because they either look or sound middle class but you are not prepared to open that can of worms ??

 

[paddy555]

Dahlings, it should be breakfast, elevenses at 11, lunch (never before one o'clock), tea at 4, dinner at 8 and supper just before bed.

and at what stage do you go on a weight loss diet after all that lot.

 

[Keith_Beef]

See, that's why I'm working class, breakfast, dinner and tea here ?

I called it tea when I ate it at five O'clock, but now that I usually start eating at some time between 19h30 and 21h, that's far too late to call it tea.

 

[blitznbobs]

So according to the quiz on the bbc site (above) I am established middle class haha... try this one.... this says I am 'posh'https://www.countryliving.com/uk/news/news/a2593/english-vocabulary-upper-class-etiquette/
I grew up in a council estate in one of the more deprived areas of the West Midlands, parents manual/ carer work, had no car, didn't travel further than Barmouth for caravan holiday once a year. Attended local primary and then Comprehensive. I was the first in our family to gain a professional qualification. Never managed to have my own pony until I was 47 haha. Husband worked his way up from factory work to recovery services.
Interestingly when I was in my teens I was called posh by local kids because I learned to play the flute (free lessons at school) then took piano lessons!

The list is just rubbish tbh…

Its loo not lavatory,
Cellar not basement or lower ground a

And many more i could go on about… but wont. Etiquette applies mainly to the middle classes trying to emulate the the upper classes in Victorian England, but the upper classses continue to feed their dogs off the porcelain at the table and expect the servants to sort it all out later.

 

[ycbm]

and at what stage do you go on a weight loss diet after all that lot.

When the hunting season ends.
.

 

[ycbm]

Hmmm....I don't believe you. I think it is because they either look or sound middle class but you are not prepared to open that can of worms ??

Actually it was because most of them yesterday were packing into Waitrose bags!
.

 

[splashgirl45]

im breakfast lunch and tea, but i socialise with some posh people and get invited to supper which seems like it would be a snack before bedtime in my eyes.. at least everyone seems to have breakfast, its just the other meals which confuse me......my dad was a car salesman and my mum was a housewife but worked in a department store before children came along..i left school the minute i could at 16 and then worked in banking and eventually ended up being a manager through a lot of hard work. i have had a horse since i was 21 and from that moment on i was always broke and had rather large balances on my credit cards, in 50 years i have had 4 holidays abroad, mostly bangers as cars, and still have a mortgage which will only be paid off when i pop my clogs..-i did the test and i am a new affluent worker, whatever that means...

 

[cobgoblin]

What happened to high tea then?

Round here most of us go to Morrison's because its the only one that doesn't require battling with the awful ring road and one way system. We have a tiny Waitrose with dreadful parking, M&S is on the other side of town, Tesco is 14 miles away and everyone seems to ignore Sainsburys.

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

High tea used to be a mixed meal, later than tea and before dinner, usually for children.

 

[ycbm]

High tea used to be a mixed meal, later than tea and before dinner, usually for children.

I think it was called high tea because instead of a cup of tea and a cake, it was a proper meal that needed to be sat at a high table to eat.

Now we are old we do high tea with friends who don't want to be out too late at night but still want a nice meal with some alcohol.
.

 

[scats]

Breakfast, lunch and tea here.
My mums side of the family were very much working class Liverpudlians, whereas my Dads from what I assume was a middle class upbringing. My paternal grandfather was the Nigerian treasurer for a couple of years, then second in command of the Falklands. Him and my paternal grandmother were regulars to the Buckingham Palace garden party. Dad and his brother went to private boarding school.
I think I’m somewhere in the middle… though I do love a wander around B&M bargains!

 

[GSD Woman]

This is so interesting for an American. I went mostly to what we call public schools but did go to private, Catholic schools for some grades.

I did get lower middle class on the BBC quiz with some working and some upper. In the USA it generally isn't a bad thing to be middle class. Many people look down on the working class but having worked a "working class" job I can tell you some of those people are the hardest working, kindest people in the world.

 

[ycbm]

. I went mostly to what we call public schools

And of course a public school in the UK is actually the reverse, a fee paying school, generally a fairly elite one ?

 

[ycbm]

I can tell you some of those people are the hardest working, kindest people in the world.

The most uniformly nice group of people I ever worked with were the unqualified low paid staff of British Home Stores where I trained to manage a shop floor.
.

 

[palo1]

This is an interesting discussion. So open to personal opinions! I just know that I know the sort of people I am most comfortable with, and it is the attitude they have to life that I relate to, not the amount of money they have or how they spend it.
Keeping two field-kept and proudly native Exmoor ponies, I am very much at the cheapest end of the horsey world, and my background is firmly to the middleclass to old-money end of the class spectrum and I tend to clash with people are frivolous in their attitude to spending or place a lot of importance into material things and how they present themselves, whether they inherited their money or earned it themselves.

That works with the social constructs I am familiar with lol! Can't beat a native pony for cool factor (and class lol).

 

[paddy555]

The most uniformly nice group of people I ever worked with were the unqualified low paid staff of British Home Stores where I trained to manage a shop floor.
.

good old BHS. I had my Saturday job there behind the counters and then as a Saturday supervisor from 14 to 18.

Did yours have the staff canteen? The staff were so well looked after with ours.