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What do you think when someone calls you rich (when you are rich)?

(180 Posts)
fancythat Wed 15-Oct-25 09:57:35

This subject has popped up on another thread.

Round these parts, in real life, if someone calls another person rich, we all grin at each other.

I never knew it was was a problem to some.
Cant see how it can be.
I dont get the problem.

I am wondering if it is different in different areas.
I live in a small rural area.
Fairly surrounded by second or fourth property owners.

Oreo Fri 17-Oct-25 10:10:48

Allira

Mollygo

You might be rich if you’re one of those who think £195 for a 2.1kg M&S Christmas Beef Wellington is reasonable.
To be fair, it serves 6 and there’s no prep, but you still have to cook it!

They don't send a chef round to cook it for that price? 😲

I did look at Tom Kerridge's Marlow pub menu.
We've booked for 12 of us for Sunday lunch. 😁
Only £175 pp.
The thing is, it's not something you can keep and admire.

Unless you bring it up later😁

PaynesGrey Fri 17-Oct-25 09:41:39

… the easiest way to find tradespeople round here is to walk down what is colloquially called "Millionaires Row" here.

This made me laugh. There being no Millionaire’s Row here, I find tradespeople by accosting men in white vans parked outside B&Q, McDonalds or Tesco. Other DIY chains, food outlets and men are available.

TBH, I thought this was one of those tedious I bought my house for tuppence now it’s worth two million … worked all my life stories.

Richard Murphy on:

Britain’s property addiction: how politics has built a broken market

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvkHfM9tsQg

He’s right.

escaped Fri 17-Oct-25 09:27:59

Thank you MaizieD for admitting your error. Going by someone else's explanation, who wasn't directly involved, probably confused the issue.
Doodledog's post was incorrect.

CariadAgain Fri 17-Oct-25 09:24:32

Well I've clicked by now that maybe the easiest way to find tradespeople round here is to walk down what is colloquially called "Millionaires Row" here - given the number of tradies vans I see there - as many are being renovated one by one.

Thinks - would have been useful if that had been the case to start with when I moved here - rather than looking around and thinking "I know an area that is going to be up-and-coming soon when I see it - and I'll pick the 'poorer relation' adjacent area - as that will do the same, ie "up and come" ".

There's never ever not been tradies vans around for some years now......it's defo how to tell the better-off part of the town (ie count vans working there).

My own income - around National Minimum Wage level and single - so just as well I got a house here when I did....ie before it started going "up".

GrannyGravy13 Fri 17-Oct-25 09:24:01

I’ve said it before and I will say it again.

I really do not get some folks (on here and in RL) obsession with other folks wealth 🤷‍♀️

Is it envy, reverse snobbery, or just out and out nosiness ?

MaizieD Fri 17-Oct-25 09:23:09

I haven’t read the M & S thread. I was going by Dd’s explanation upthread (which no-one challenged).

On a thread about the cost of M&S Christmas food, people were saying it was unaffordable, then someone said that they shopped there and didn't even look at the prices.

Someone replied with 'You must be rich', and a third poster endorsed that.

Others pounced on the 'you must be rich' ones, said the comment was unnecessary and called them rude.

hmm

If the story is incorrect I semi apologise. I still think that leaping on someone and telling them they’re rude for an innocuous remark is bossy child behaviour.

escaped Fri 17-Oct-25 09:11:31

MaizieD

escaped

PS. for clarification, the OP on this thread did not write the rich comment, but pounced on it straightaway saying they agreed. Which was kind of worse! 😆
Then proceeded to find excuses when pulled up on it.
Then wrote this new thread!
Simples.

Having read this thread over a few days what I don’t understand is why saying ‘You must be rich’ to someone is considered to be rude? It’s a fairly commonplace response; not usually meant to be pejorative in any way.

I think it’s much ruder to pull someone up on a casual response, like a bossy 10yr old in the school playground. 😳

MaizieD you have misunderstood.
They didn't say it TO someone, they said it ABOUT someone. There's a big difference.

I said something a bit cheeky directly TO someone yesterday, that's fine. They haven't come back to me, so I assume they got it! No one else was involved. If I'd said it in the 3rd person, it looks like I'm inviting others to agree, and I don't like that because that IS playground behaviour!

M0nica Fri 17-Oct-25 09:06:22

Rich is a relative term. To millionaire a billionaire is probably rich and the billionaire sees the millionaire as poor.

In an area of high unemployment and insecure jobs, someone with a secure job with the average take home pay has riches beyond attainment.

I keep asking people to define 'rich', but no one ever does.

MaizieD Fri 17-Oct-25 09:05:19

escaped

PS. for clarification, the OP on this thread did not write the rich comment, but pounced on it straightaway saying they agreed. Which was kind of worse! 😆
Then proceeded to find excuses when pulled up on it.
Then wrote this new thread!
Simples.

Having read this thread over a few days what I don’t understand is why saying ‘You must be rich’ to someone is considered to be rude? It’s a fairly commonplace response; not usually meant to be pejorative in any way.

I think it’s much ruder to pull someone up on a casual response, like a bossy 10yr old in the school playground. 😳

petra Fri 17-Oct-25 08:57:43

I don’t think the OP and the others in her circle are grinning, I think they are smirking. Lovely word, should be used more. 😂

escaped Fri 17-Oct-25 08:46:53

PS. for clarification, the OP on this thread did not write the rich comment, but pounced on it straightaway saying they agreed. Which was kind of worse! 😆
Then proceeded to find excuses when pulled up on it.
Then wrote this new thread!
Simples.

escaped Fri 17-Oct-25 08:43:08

I do discuss money and finance with my daughter and to some extent my siblings.
I think that is perfectly acceptable, and not rude at all.
What is rude, however, and how this topic took off is someone saying, " XYZ must be rich," about a stranger, with grins included. Then others agreeing.
Then starting a new discussion about how it is acceptable round their village.

That's probably as clear as rural mud to most of us!

petra Fri 17-Oct-25 08:38:43

BlueBelle

Well I don’t at all understand what this thread is about Cabbie
What this mean
‘Round these parts, in real life, if someone calls another person rich, we all grin at each other’
I just have a mental picture of everyone gurning at each other in a little picturesque village

I am sooo tempted to mention such rural places: but I won’t. 😂

Usedtobeblonde Fri 17-Oct-25 08:23:59

My late H and I have/had a comfortable life , nice house and enough for our needs and wants but we never inherited a penny.
Our parents, born just before or just after the turn of the last century , lived through very hard times and left nothing .
It is the next generation who were able to buy houses and improve their standard of living enough to benefit their families.
My own C will inherit but it is our own hard work that has made that possible as I am sure applies to many of our generation .

Cabbie21 Fri 17-Oct-25 08:15:44

Is it a grin of embarrassment? Or a smirk of satisfaction? Or something else?
That’s what I would like to know.

BlueBelle Thu 16-Oct-25 23:30:11

Well I don’t at all understand what this thread is about Cabbie
What this mean
‘Round these parts, in real life, if someone calls another person rich, we all grin at each other’
I just have a mental picture of everyone gurning at each other in a little picturesque village

SporeRB Thu 16-Oct-25 23:26:17

I concluded that the bulk of wealth in this country comes from inheritance. I have friends in their fifties and sixties who have recently inherited a property which enables them to move from renting to owning a property, go on holiday seven times in a year or relocate down south and buy a coastal property.

Growing up in a different culture where money is not a taboo subject and talking about money is not consider vulgar, I do discuss money and finance with my daughter and to some extent my siblings.

Cabbie21 Thu 16-Oct-25 23:07:53

I now understand how this thread began.
Most of us agree that we don’t generally talk about money
( other than to be concerned about rising costs of food or heating!)
Being ‘rich’ can be understood in various ways.
But I would still like to know about the OP’s grins.

Usedtobeblonde Thu 16-Oct-25 22:11:00

To feel comfortably off, able to eat well, heat my home, pay bills when they come in and go out for meals occasionally is more than enough for me.
I haven’t had a proper holiday for seven years but a couple of nights away two or three times a year is all I want.
Of course it would be lovely to buy my AC houses, and educate the GC privately but that will never be possible and that’s ok, my friends can’t do that either.

Madmeg Thu 16-Oct-25 21:52:23

Forgot to add that everyone knows my politics cos I am active within our local party but I have plenty of friends who support other parties. We might discuss some issues but agree to differ if we need to, I also have religious beliefs but respect those with different ones or% none at all.

Madmeg Thu 16-Oct-25 21:49:03

I can't imagine any area where everyone talks (or not) about religion, politics or money. Seems very odd to me.

But surely all these topics can be mentioned without making others cringe? As an ex-accountant I've known folks with high incomes and/or wealth and just the opposite - to me they were just people. I've got friends who are clearly not "well off" but aren't destitute either - or maybe they're just not spendthrifts. My late "best friend" had no money but went on numerous cruises via her credit card and left nothing to her sons after she died once the credit cards had been cleared.

My peniless cousin who brought up 4 sons alone while working as a care assistant had loads of cruises - and still does!

For myself, I spent most of my life with little spare but in later years struck lucky with a few investments and two sizable (unexpected) inheritances so I now regard myself as "very comfortable" - but am nowhere near a millionaire. I only have one property (too big for me really) and a 15-year old car. DH and I have also enjoyed a few cruises which we never expected to. And it still feels odd to be able to afford them.

In our local u3a we have members in various states of wealth - but I am guessing cos nobody mentions it cos it simply doesn't matter - the objective is to enjoy company and learn a skill or similar. Money just isn't relevant. The person is far more important than the money they have or don't have.

Stansgran Thu 16-Oct-25 20:18:22

I feel incredibly rich . My DH has an appointment for laser eye surgery in 10 weeks ,the gp surgery wants to give me a health check up and the nhs want to give me a diabetic eye check up. Don’t have to spend a penny except on parking at the various hospitals. My friend in France has to spend a fortune on the same things and then has to fill in the forms to claim some of it back. She has to have the money in the first place.Wealth is in the eye of the beholder.

Allira Thu 16-Oct-25 19:54:12

Mollygo

You might be rich if you’re one of those who think £195 for a 2.1kg M&S Christmas Beef Wellington is reasonable.
To be fair, it serves 6 and there’s no prep, but you still have to cook it!

They don't send a chef round to cook it for that price? 😲

I did look at Tom Kerridge's Marlow pub menu.
We've booked for 12 of us for Sunday lunch. 😁
Only £175 pp.
The thing is, it's not something you can keep and admire.

Mollygo Thu 16-Oct-25 19:43:38

You might be rich if you’re one of those who think £195 for a 2.1kg M&S Christmas Beef Wellington is reasonable.
To be fair, it serves 6 and there’s no prep, but you still have to cook it!

Nell82 Thu 16-Oct-25 18:21:39

We have a bachelor friend who loves to talk about his big fat pension, inherited property, juicy investments etc etc. However, he is a self-confessed "mean bast*rd" and proud of it.

We can't feel envy when we look round his bathroom at the grotty avocado suite and weird heating system. We even beg him to let us pay for a proper carpark rather than hunt for a free space miles from anywhere.

Still, he's happy!