Is the British obsession with class starting to wane?
Old rules about whether to say sofa or settee, loo or toilet, are disappearing down the pan. But will we find new ways to judge each other on how we talk?Rejoice: British class distinctions are finally crumbling. Yes, the gap between rich and poor is as big as ever and I am, inexplicably, unhappily, aware that Tatler’s “most eligible singles” list exists and features a princess, a lord, a lady, a Getty and a Goldsmith. But forget all that: it’s practically Scandinavia here now that the Prince of Wales has been heard saying “Pleased to meet you” – a phrase, I learn, that is traditionally considered social death. (What should one say instead? Perhaps nothing, just fix the person with an icily underwhelmed stare? I could get into that.)On top of that, new research suggests different social classes have stopped using different words for the thing we sit on in front of the television. The non-U (U as in upper class) “settee” is dying out and we all mostly say “sofa”. Then there’s the other thing we all sit on: we call it the loo or toilet indiscriminately now, irrespective of where we went to school. Continue reading...
Old rules about whether to say sofa or settee, loo or toilet, are disappearing down the pan. But will we find new ways to judge each other on how we talk?
Rejoice: British class distinctions are finally crumbling. Yes, the gap between rich and poor is as big as ever and I am, inexplicably, unhappily, aware that Tatler’s “most eligible singles” list exists and features a princess, a lord, a lady, a Getty and a Goldsmith. But forget all that: it’s practically Scandinavia here now that the Prince of Wales has been heard saying “Pleased to meet you” – a phrase, I learn, that is traditionally considered social death. (What should one say instead? Perhaps nothing, just fix the person with an icily underwhelmed stare? I could get into that.)
On top of that, new research suggests different social classes have stopped using different words for the thing we sit on in front of the television. The non-U (U as in upper class) “settee” is dying out and we all mostly say “sofa”. Then there’s the other thing we all sit on: we call it the loo or toilet indiscriminately now, irrespective of where we went to school. Continue reading...
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