How do you define being Common !!!

don't think anyone would pay attention these days but my mum used to think our neighbour was "common as muck" because she smoked in the street.

Apparently ladies only smoked behind closed doors

I used to wish my mother wore a hat and gloves like the posh mothers. When I was older, I realised that she was a true lady, because she never thought anyone was above her or below her. She treated everyone in the same kind way. I felt ashamed that I had been such a little snob.

My mother was horrified when I had my ears pierced at the age of 17. She told me it was common and "only costermongers had pierced ears". (There were, of course, masses of costermongers living in middle class, leafy West London suburbs in the 1960s.) I was stuck for an answer and the only response I could come up with was "The Queen has pierced ears," which stopped my mother in her tracks. I would guess that the Queen probably has, given the range of royal jewels, but I don't actually know, even now.

Is'nt common basically the same as breading or class. Being common means different things to different people. Take swearing for example it is used by all of the classes but we forget that. Roots showing, peroxide blondes are also in all classes. It's how a person inacts with other human beings that does shed some degree of class or 'commonness'. Do you put your cigarette out on the floor or in an ashtray?. Do you swear in front of children?. Do you wear your clothes without showing your backside or roll of fat because your top is too short?. Are you polite to people, trust me those of you who think you are not common can have a tendancy to be very rude to others.

Being common is a trait, a way of life. It also implies lack of breeding or class but I have been in the company of both common and upper-class company and believe you me I have found both can be just as horrifying.

Pogs, I don't think anyone is going to argue with your statement that all kinds of people can be rude and insensitive. (But,of course, a gentleman or lady is never inadvertently rude!)

I don't mind being common - at least some of the time. Being overly concerned with not being so can can have a deadening effect on the spark of life. I read somewhere:

Blessed are the beigeous!

It is not often I come across a totally new word, but 'beigeous' has defeated me - and google!

I remember lectures from the nuns about how to sit like a lady - meaning how to pretend we had no sexual parts!

The beigeous may be blessed - but are they happy?

If we use a word often enough will it make it into the OED? Should we contact Susie Dent and ask about the chances of 'beigeous' being accepted?

eating pies\pasties in a bag while drinking from can walking down the road.

And chambers! Did you mean bigoted?
Are you using an iPad?
Mine has not been domesticated yet and insists it knows better than me!

Blessed are the bigoted, jeni?

Surely not.... (I hope!)

Not having cleaners (that'll be me then )

jeni - see Petallus's post. 'Beigeous' seems to be a neologism for those who fade into the background, or at least that's what I think it means.

Quite! No way! The opposite! If I'm bigoted, it's against bigots!
I HAVE to have cleaners. I can't do it myself. Due to arthritis and poor balance!
On the other hand, I am contributing to the employment situation, by employing a cleaner, a gardner and a taxi driver!

Yes, that's what I thought - a bit like 'Blessed are the meek...'

annobel
I HATE neologisms!

annagram for they shall inherit the?"

Straying from pedants' corner, I don't think beigeous is a neologism. Words such asstreamline are neologisms. They are awfully useful words for new concepts jeni.

This thread has brought up so many memories.

Shovelling up the manure from the delivery horses was something my Mum always did, for Dad's veggie garden.

About being ashamed of your Mum for no real reason at all - this puts you in good company - Alan Bennett - who is deeply ashamed now because he was ashamed of his parents as a kid, because they were not posh (Dad was a butcher)

My husband remembers being sent out to collect dog ends for his truly evil step father.(There were much worse things happening and the grandparents soon rescued him and brought him up)

Mum would have been devastated it I'd acted common in any way, but one thing she could not do anything about was my accent: I've always been 'broad Yorkshire' and not even going to grammar school could change this. I never gave a thought to the fact that a working class accent could affect the way you are treated though, until I went au-pairing to Vienna at 19, became fluent in posh German because I lived with a very posh family, and found that people had quite a deferential attitude to me.

Being common seems to be a part of every socioeconomic group nowadays, as you see from tales of the rich and shameless in the papers.

Talking of class, saw this brilliant clip on TV the other day:
A politician was asking some young ladies on a dubious looking council estate what class they thought they were.
"Definitely middle class mate” says one sniffing and wiping her nose on her sleeve.
“Oh really?” says the snobby politician “I would have said you are all working class”
“Oh no” says the young girl “I can’t be”
“Why not?” says the politician
“I ain’t got a job mate” replied the girl!!!

Beigeous I take to mean being very concerned with good taste, hence everything in beige. This probably would mean fading into the background which is one reason why I like a bit of common-ness.

Joan I mentioned earlier somewhere else that when we were children my brother and I were sent out collecting dog ends by my grandfather. We quite enjoyed it.

Oh dear, my lounge is all in white with ivory furniture and a pale green carpet. Does that mean I'm beigeous?

Strange how our minds work, isn't it? I understood 'beigeous' to mean bland and colourless!