What in your view is common ?

What the flip are turkey teeth and why are they common?

Turkey teeth??? What on earth is/are turkey teeth?

Just having a vision of a turkey with teeth...

Chestnut You are spot on. I’d add to that: those head bands that people put on baby girls’ heads (must be uncomfortable).

People who go to Turkey to have their teeth fixed.

Getting them done in Turkey, it took me a while to fathom it out too

I assume bright, white, artificial looking teeth, the work on them has been done in Turkey?
My Mum said smoking in the street was ‘common’.

A lot of these things are more about preferences in taste - is that the same thing? It all sounds very classist to me.

I was about to ask about turkey teeth, trying to visualise inside a turkey's beak, then realised it is people to travel abroad to get their teeth whitened and aligned . I sort of know what you mean, but dentistry is so expensive that not everyone can afford to get it done as they need it, so going abroad is at least a way to get the sort of smile that better off people take for granted.

Not a word that was ever used when I was growing up, but I think I do understand the concept. My parents would have thought calling something common was common!

Too much make-up, bleached overly blonde hair, certain accents and words, and certain names are ‘common’. Showing off expensive possessions is common.

I agree with Lathyrus that worrying about being common is a (lower) middle class preoccupation. Hyacinth Bucket is an example of someone who has risen above her origins and is constantly concerned about getting things right. The truly lower class and the upper class couldn’t care less.

I know this is on a tangent, but I just recently discovered that 'Common' is an abbreviation of 'Common Good Land'. Where I live, there are all sorts of wonderful events put on for everyone, and at least a proportion is given back to the town for good works. A lot of the time families come and set up cricket or football and have a picnic. The Round Table puts on firework displays and the carnival involves the whole town's clubs and businesses with the money going to charitable works.

Turkey teeth…less rare than hens’ teeth?

Juliet27

Turkey teeth…less rare than hens’ teeth?

Only worn at Christmas.

I too love Common People.

I suppose shopping in pyjamas is common?

My late mother who was a narc had a long list of things that were common!
I sometimes think the only adjectives in her vocabulary were “posh & common” both words make me cringe.

A selection from her sad list;

Any washing detergent except Persil
Shoes that weren’t a shade of brown,black or navy.
C&A
PG Tips
Ice pops
Dahlias
Saturday night at the London Palladium
Mainland Spain
Red lipstick & nail polish
Painted toe nails
Caravans
Big breasts
Any forename that didn’t have strong Catholic roots.
All of my friends except Bernadette and Theresa.
Freeman,Hardy &Willis.
Bingo
Holiday camps.

I spent my childhood wishing for all the above.

nadateturbe I think that it depends upon the pyjamas and the shop!

I wish I could copy and paste John Betjeman's 'How to get on in society'. It really skewers lower middle class pretensions.
I agree with a previous poster who found little difference between titled types and working class types but middle classes with chip on their shoulders trying to outdo each other.

How To Get On In Society by John Betjeman
Phone for the fish knives, Norman
As cook is a little unnerved;
You kiddies have crumpled the serviettes
And I must have things daintily served.

Are the requisites all in the toilet?
The frills round the cutlets can wait
Till the girl has replenished the cruets
And switched on the logs in the grate.

It's ever so close in the lounge dear,
But the vestibule's comfy for tea
And Howard is riding on horseback
So do come and take some with me

Now here is a fork for your pastries
And do use the couch for your feet;
I know that I wanted to ask you-
Is trifle sufficient for sweet?

Milk and then just as it comes dear?
I'm afraid the preserve's full of stones;
Beg pardon, I'm soiling the doileys
With afternoon tea-cakes and scones.

There you are .

It's a bit dated, and very snobbish, but maybe still funny?

For you, Aveline

How To Get On In Society by John Betjeman
Phone for the fish knives, Norman
As cook is a little unnerved;
You kiddies have crumpled the serviettes
And I must have things daintily served.

Are the requisites all in the toilet?
The frills round the cutlets can wait
Till the girl has replenished the cruets
And switched on the logs in the grate.

It's ever so close in the lounge dear,
But the vestibule's comfy for tea
And Howard is riding on horseback
So do come and take some with me

Now here is a fork for your pastries
And do use the couch for your feet;
I know that I wanted to ask you-
Is trifle sufficient for sweet?

Milk and then just as it comes dear?
I'm afraid the preserve's full of stones;
Beg pardon, I'm soiling the doileys
With afternoon tea-cakes and scones.

Thanks for posting Doodle and Shirley. Yes it's dated but so am I and I remember these fine distinctions being made at the time.

Sago your mother's list sounds eerily familiar. Were red shoes on her list too; especially red shoes with ankle straps? far too common I've never been able to wear red shoes to this day!

Too much obvious make up, blatantly bleached hair and eating in the street were my parents’ ideas of common, oh and babies with pierced ears or women with ‘Bet Lynch’ earrings, though how I was supposed to know what they were when we didn’t have a television, who knows?
Never associated it with the Wombles as we knew Wimbledon Common as a big park.

My favourite song about knowing your place was Kick the Cat sing by the Spinners
“Oh it is hard you will agree, to know your place in Britain’s meritocracy . . .

No one below you, fancy that
your only consolation is to kick the cat!”

Sago ???

Doodledog and Shirley48
Thank you

Chewbacca Red shoes were regarded as sinful as well as common, had I bought home a girlfriend in red shoes my mother would have had all of the Catholic Mothers Union praying for my redemption.
The friend in red shoes would of course end up in Hell.

Rather hilariously a typo occurred in the previous post stating “the friend in red shoes would end up in Hull” ????