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What does 'effortlessly middle class' mean?

(112 Posts)
kittylester Thu 30-Dec-21 10:14:08

I recently heard someone described as such but can't quite work out what it means- and whether it's an insult or a compliment!

What does anyone else think?

merlotgran Fri 31-Dec-21 15:39:01

Mummer, Monty Don avoided going bankrupt after his and his wife’s jewellery business collapsed as a result of the stock market crash in 1987.

Another fact you have completely wrong is that far from being ‘shunted off’, Toby Buckland hosted Gardeners World for a year but was so unpopular Monty Don was asked to return after leaving due to ill health.

EllanVannin Fri 31-Dec-21 15:43:37

Ronnie Barker in a sketch, serving afters to Lord and Lady :

Your nuts, Sir.

Your crackers, Madam.

Love it as they don't get it do they ? grin

M0nica Fri 31-Dec-21 15:53:32

We are exactly like the US. Money is the only thing that matters in the UK as well.

But class is a necessary prop for at least one of our political parties. And, as the programme I heard yesterday said, as a whole, the better educated people are, the more leftwing their politics.

It is, therefore, inevitable that for the chattering classes that work in the media who, however well educated, are not renowmed for being deep thinkers, that lazy cliches like the 'class system' provide a ready made cliche responses that they can tote around in the media, underpinning their sense of superiority with a belief that they really 'care' for those less adept at climbing the greasy pole than them.

cc Fri 31-Dec-21 16:10:51

Pedwards

It wouldn’t be my description of Monty Don, class has nothing to do with it, he just seems like a lovely person

I agree. You wouldn't find Monty Don bitching about people as some have been doing about him.

GillT57 Fri 31-Dec-21 16:27:14

Mummer. You are skating on very thin ice with your incorrect facts about Saint Monty Don. He is one of the good guys and one of the few things that the disparate opinions on GN agree on. smile

montymops Fri 31-Dec-21 17:13:30

I don’t really know what effortlessly middle class means - but perhaps looking back at people’s family tree will indicate, that ancestors with centuries of education, who may hold professional jobs, who are successful merchants, or successful engineers, has led them to be described now as effortlessly middle class? They are the products of a hard working, educated, intelligent heritage.

Humduh Sat 01-Jan-22 00:23:17

No such thing you are what you are born, your children may be a different class to you. Someone can be born working class after educatio earning or marriage etc etc kids
can be middle

MissAdventure Sat 01-Jan-22 00:48:32

I seem to have started low, worked up to middle, then sunk without trace. grin
I'm becoming part of the underclass now.

nanna8 Sat 01-Jan-22 01:28:53

When I was at uni someone said I was ‘so middle class’. I was quite offended at the time. Still not sure what they meant. Things are different here, more like the USA. Money is everything, makes you sick sometimes. Kings of the universe tend to be tradies, especially plumbers who seem to all be very wealthy. Also private school educated versus state school seems to be a bit of a factor here in Melbourne.

Jaibee007 Sun 02-Jan-22 17:33:38

A snobby thing for someone to say. Makes them sound effortlessly stupid and annoying

MissAdventure Sun 02-Jan-22 23:11:08

grin