reader 2 -session 5

So what CLASS are YOU?

•  A wickedly funny and all-too perceptive new book has the answer...         and it hinges on your favourite marmalade and what you buy at M&S

Daily Mail -article   19 April 2014          

What is Englishness? That is the question that social anthropologist Kate Fox set out to answer in her book Watching The English, which became an international bestseller. Now, ten years on, she has dug even deeper into our national foibles and eccentricities to update her study. The result is gloriously entertaining — and painfully accurate!

IT’S ALL ABOUT CLASS 

• Most of the English would rather pretend that class ­differences don’t exist, or are no longer important, or at least that we personally have no class-related prejudices. ­Remember John Prescott’s assertion, before the 1997 election, that: ‘we are all middle class now’? He could not have been more wrong. Class still pervades all aspects of English life and culture, it’s just that we are painfully loath to admit it. 

• So how do you pinpoint someone’s class in 21st century ­England? Certainly, foreigners are often bewildered. ­Occupation is no longer a guide to where you stand in the pecking order: these days, we judge social class in much more subtle and complex ways.  

• And the truth is that all English people, whether they admit it or not, are fitted with a sort of social Global Positioning Satellite computer that tells them a person’s position on the class map as soon as he begins to speak. 

• There are two main factors involved in calculating the class to which you, and others, belong: the words you use and, of course, how you say them. 

A) THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS 

Nancy Mitford coined the phrase ‘U and Non-U’ — referring to upper-class and non-upper-class words. And although some of her class-indicator words are now outdated, the principle remains. But she didn’t go far enough. While some words may simply separate the upper class from the rest, ­others more specifically separate the ­working class from the lower-­middle, or the middle-middle from the upper-middle. There are, however, seven words that the English uppers and upper-middles regard as infallible ­indicators. Utter any one of these seven deadly sins, and their on-board class-radar devices will start bleeping and flashing and you will be demoted to middle class, at best, and probably lower.

       1-6: Pardon  -Toilette - serviette -  Dinner/tea - settee - lounge

7: Sweet: The upper-middle and upper classes insist that the sweet course at the end of a meal is called the pudding.

‘Dessert’ isn’t quite as clear as it once was. Some American-influenced young upper-middles are starting to say ‘dessert’, and this is therefore the least offensive of the three — and the least reliable as a class indicator.

                   B)  SCHOOL NAME TAGS THAT SHOW THE         MIDDLETONS AREN'T SO POSH 

 C)  OTHER TELL-TALE WORD DIVIDERS

• Posh: 

• Perfume or  scent. 

• Party time:  people go to a ‘do’?  a function?  a party? 

• Portions or helpings. 

• Patio:

D)  THE M&S TEST         

If you need to make a quick assessment of an Englishwoman’s social class, don’t ask about her family background, income, occupation or the value of her house (all of which would, in any case, be rude). Ask her what she does and doesn’t buy at Marks & Spencer. 

 E)   THE MARMALADE CLASSES  

Here’s an even easier test. Watch what someone puts on their breakfast toast. 

• Dark, thick-cut Oxford or Dundee marmalade is favoured by  ....?

F)   WHAT CLASS IS YOUR CAR?

• Still struggling? Try ­talking cars.