Telegraph today - Class system

laissez-faire · 19 Apr 2007 at 09:45

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/main.jhtml?xml=/portal/2007/04/17/nosplit/ftkate117.xml

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/m...?xml=/portal/2007/04/17/nosplit/ftquiz117.xml

I thought the article was fairly amusing. I got 380 on the silly quiz and as it suggests I do indeed have a coat of arms lol.

I have been fairly lucky to have been born into an aristocratic family, had the whole public school eduction etc etc, but now at uni in Edinburgh I have changed a lot. In first year I would immediately snigger if someone shook my hand with a feeble handshake and said 'pleased to meet you' but now I look past that. I would certainly never use the word toilet myself but it no longer sends a shiver down my spine if someone else says it. The older I get the more I can see instinctive politeness in people and it has nothing to do with class and little to do with 'style' of upbringing. Some people are just instinctively polite and able to converse with everyone without causing offence.

Elmer · 19 Apr 2007 at 10:13

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgA4K-bnwh0

MookJong · 19 Apr 2007 at 10:19

laissez-faire said:
In first year I would immediately ...anyone like you, thats a level beyond. :eek:

platypus · 19 Apr 2007 at 10:21

I have a coat of arms and went to private school for most of my education. Doesn't make me posh I wouldn't have thought.

Christo · 19 Apr 2007 at 10:22

MookJong said:
I went to a private school but I never once met anyone like you, thats a level beyond.

public school

Yes I went too but never shudder at 'toilet' but I hate 'lounge'

and probably some others but I am not stuck up in any way.

escape sanity · 19 Apr 2007 at 10:25

I went to a state school and I also would never use the word toilet but simply because I don't like the sound of the word, bathroom sounds much nicer. Don't understand why anyone would be particularly shocked by someone saying it though

And according to the quiz, I am middle class.

laissez-faire said:
In first year I would immediately snigger if someone shook my hand with a feeble handshake and said 'pleased to meet you'

dustiestrat · 19 Apr 2007 at 10:27

i just managed to get into middle class.

singist · 19 Apr 2007 at 10:37

Not done the quiz but a lounge is what you find in an airport and a bathroom does not have to contain a lavatory.

I don't have a problem with the terms/euphemisms that people use for these things though.

Council estate and state school for me.

kaiowas · 19 Apr 2007 at 10:48

I found the quiz a bit of a waste of time as I couldn't even answer about 1/2 of the questions for one reason or another. If I double the score I got for the questions I answered it puts me squarely in "Upper Class" despite coming from what I would consider to be a working class background (neither of my parents are educated beyond 'O' Level or had/have particularly good jobs, I went to the local school and we lived in a privately owned house on a council estate).

Dogoid · 19 Apr 2007 at 11:00

i was going to write something meaningful and extended, but i need to go to the bog.

Errol · 19 Apr 2007 at 11:11

Dogoid said:
i was going to write something meaningful and extended, but i need to go to the bog.

Peasant.

rossyl · 19 Apr 2007 at 19:51

Thomas Crapper

Jaaay · 19 Apr 2007 at 20:14

LOOOL

I got 260, i went to a primary private school. Im now in a secondary grammar school.

Rebelius · 19 Apr 2007 at 20:43

280: You are uneasily middle-class.
went to a state school - now at Edinburgh uni.

laissez-faire said:
In first year I would immediately snigger if someone shook my hand with a feeble handshake and said 'pleased to meet you' but now I look past that.

far too many people in Edinburgh like that unfortunately.

class arguments seem pretty ridiculous to me but they can be oh so funny.

Amp34 · 19 Apr 2007 at 20:47

290 so "un easily middle-class" which I suppose sort of sums me up, not due to my background just the way I act etc. I think a lot of so called middle class attributes are just means of being polite, and I can't stand peoplelike Jordan and magazines like Heat. I did a similar one in the daily mail yesterday and got upper middle class so they must be accurate!

Our family actually do have a coat of arms as well as a motto, but that comes from our scottish side and is attached to our clan name.

semi-pro waster · 19 Apr 2007 at 20:47

Apparantly I'm uneasily middle class as well but then I didn't want to pick any of some of the answers at all so I remain firmly unconvinced as with all novelty tests. Some of the questions were a bit dubious also like #12 where apparantly if you need something repeated the answer that a 'toff' would give is "what", no excuses for being rude when "pardon" is just as easy to say or even "excuse me".

M0KUJ1N · 19 Apr 2007 at 20:49

270, uneasily middle-class, sounds about right tho I think I should protest that there should be a d option for kilts in Q7!

M0KUJ1N · 19 Apr 2007 at 20:52

Rebelius said:
280: You are uneasily middle-class.
went to a state school - now at Edinburgh uni.

far too many people in Edinburgh like that unfortunately.

class arguments seem pretty ridiculous to me but they can be oh so funny.

Wouldn't say that, you must be spending too much time at George Square

I suppose one of the best things about uni is that it does bring people from all sorts of backgrounds, countries and cultures on a level playing field.

Rebelius · 19 Apr 2007 at 20:55

I don't spend any time at george square, but I live next to pollock.

just seems a bit off that some people won't speak to me just because I wear jeans and a hoody. :confused:

Amp34 · 19 Apr 2007 at 21:03

Rebelius said:
I don't spend any time at george square, but I live next to pollock.

just seems a bit off that some people won't speak to me just because I wear jeans and a hoody.

Its not just Edinburgh, most people all over the country won't speak to you wearing those...