What does 'effortlessly middle class' mean?

Aveline

I've never thought of Monty Don as being any particular class. On thinking about it it's not something I think about anyone. People are just people.

? that’s why he is effortlessly m/c

Whitewavemark2

Aveline

I've never thought of Monty Don as being any particular class. On thinking about it it's not something I think about anyone. People are just people.

? that’s why he is effortlessly m/c

Poor Monty Don.

Calling someone middle class, effortlessly or not, is no compliment.

Zoejory, if classes still exist, I am happy to be called middle class because that's what I am. If classes still exist!

And I’m happy to be thought of as working class. ?
It’s what we are after all. I like things nice though. Manners. Table set for meals with all the what nots.

Zoejory

Whitewavemark2

Aveline

I've never thought of Monty Don as being any particular class. On thinking about it it's not something I think about anyone. People are just people.

? that’s why he is effortlessly m/c

Poor Monty Don.

Calling someone middle class, effortlessly or not, is no compliment.

So would you say that being working class was a compliment. I’m not sure if any effort is needed but you do find that some people are a bit shy about saying that they are middle class in case they get picked on, made fun of. You know what I mean.

I think MD is lovely. He puts an awful lot of effort into gardening and I do enjoy his programmes.

Hopefully everyone is effortlessly just what they are.
As long as it harms nobody else, who cares?

LauraNorderr

The aspiring classes apparently make an effort to use a napkin rather than a serviette, to say ‘what’ instead of ‘pardon’, to sit on a sofa in the sitting room or, worse still, the drawing room instead of the lounge. Whereas effortlessly middle class do it all effortlessly including going to the loo and not the toilet without much effort.
So in conclusion more Imodium needed for the effortlessly middle class.

What about those who say settee not sofa, lav not toilet, use paper napkins, not linen or even use kitchen roll when they've run out of the paper ones?

Beyond the pale!!?

What I'd like to be is effortlessly stylish, whatever class I am ?

My opinion. Effortlessly implies that no effort is necessary to appear MC, it just comes naturally.
An example is they have no special ‘telephone’ voice. They always speak the same RP in any situation. Not worried about what they wear, how they appear, the scruffier the better sometimes, so it’s all effortless.
The rest of those to whom it doesn't come naturally make a big show of it, lots of expensive stuff, clothes, houses, cars, jewellery, stuff. !
I know my place.

I work. Or I used to. So I am working class. That's the logic, surely. I did go to a private school though. So maybe to some I'm middle. But I'd hate to be called that.

I'm not a fan of calling anyone upper/middle/working class. It's pointless.

I like Monty as well. He's brilliant. Very sad when his beloved Nigel died.

silverlining48

My opinion. Effortlessly implies that no effort is necessary to appear MC, it just comes naturally.
An example is they have no special ‘telephone’ voice. They always speak the same RP in any situation. Not worried about what they wear, how they appear, the scruffier the better sometimes, so it’s all effortless.
The rest of those to whom it doesn't come naturally make a big show of it, lots of expensive stuff, clothes, houses, cars, jewellery, stuff. !
I know my place.

? yes, like Monty Don?

Tbh it is all such nonsense, but it is a subject the British get very exercised about.

Effortlessly w/c ? Any candidates?

Me!
It comes naturally to me.

I can't claim to be working class any longer.

Being retired, am I now effortlessly middle class?

I think you're a category in your own right.

Aveline We all allocate ourselves into different perceived classes

You may, I never have. In fact I have always protested against there being any class system in this country. For every aristo or whatever with the right school and university pulling strings, there is another whose grandfather gambled everything away, and the current holder went to a state school and is a bus driver or similar.

Middle class is taken to mean wealthy people with big houses and large cars - and anyone who, as we used to say, wears a suit to work and works in an office, which included the most lowly bank clerk.

Working class is taken to include a prosperous tradesmen - plumber, electrician or the like, we know and like quite a number. they own nice houses, shop in the same farm shops we do and drive onlease SUV's, which are used for work. It also includes gig economy and zero hours workers in retail and hospitality in big cities.

The whole class system is ridiculous and completely out of line with how the country actually works and is only kept running because the Labour Party would be lost without it.

Calistemon

LauraNorderr

The aspiring classes apparently make an effort to use a napkin rather than a serviette, to say ‘what’ instead of ‘pardon’, to sit on a sofa in the sitting room or, worse still, the drawing room instead of the lounge. Whereas effortlessly middle class do it all effortlessly including going to the loo and not the toilet without much effort.
So in conclusion more Imodium needed for the effortlessly middle class.

What about those who say settee not sofa, lav not toilet, use paper napkins, not linen or even use kitchen roll when they've run out of the paper ones?

Beyond the pale!!?

What I'd like to be is effortlessly stylish, whatever class I am ?

I too would like to be stylish but goodness me it takes some effort.

I've had people say to me in a very sneery way that I'm posh. I just agree. Takes the wind out of their sails. Why is being middle class apparently a bad thing?

It's neither good nor bad.
It just is.

RP rules me out of being middle class!

Let’s not forget the lower middle classes and the upper middle classes.
Are they effortlessly lower middle class? Are they effortlessly upper middle class?

I think that I can get on with all classes, does that make me ‘effortlessly middle class’?
If I’m in the middle it’s less effort to go up or down?

I too would like to be stylish but goodness me it takes some effort

I'm not stylish with even the maximum of effort, Nightsky

One thing is for certain, money does not indicate class. Trashy ostentation is vulgar. I think the old divide of whether you had to work for a living doesn't apply now, most people have to work for their income, even if that 'work' is managing an estate of thousands of acres. The reverse snobbery of some on the left really irritates me, the inference that if you earn a 'salary' rather than a 'wage' makes you some sort of a class traitor, and the snippy comments about people like Sir Keir Starmer who got where he is on his own ability, whereas I think is to be admired for this.

Not many philanthropists shout about it either

JaneJudge

Not many philanthropists shout about it either

exactly. That is another thing which I consider vulgar, being boastful.

Urmstongran

And I’m happy to be thought of as working class. ?
It’s what we are after all. I like things nice though. Manners. Table set for meals with all the what nots.

Yes I agree with you Urmstongran good manners are wonderful and transcend class.

I'm effortlessly, contentedly, proudly working class.

I was a gardener so consider myself working class. Monty Don is a gardener and middle class. Roddy Llewellyn was a gardener and a baronet who ahem , 'mixed with' royalty.

It's all far too complicated. Shall we all just be us?