Categories: uncategorized
Date: 21 September 2005 21:59:22
I've been reading Watching the English, by Kate Fox, and have been fascinated to discover some of the causes of differences in our household. I have diagnosed The Spouse™'s family as upper-working-class (they say "settee", "toilet" and "lounge" - although apparently they used to say "parlour" when they lived in a back-to-back, but have nick-nacks and net curtains), and mine as upper-middle-class, (we say "sorry?", "loo") with some American influences (gee, you think? dual nationality enough for you? we say "couch", although I've gone more over to "sofa" since leaving home, and "living room", though my grandfather says "sitting room).
This is why he doesn't like my furniture - in particular, he is not too fond of my very old rug that my parents bought in Turkey on honeymoon 40 years ago, and a wall rack/shelf thing that was in a cottage we used to have when we got it, and which has moved from house to house with me. According to Kate Fox, uppers and upper-middles inherit their furniture, whereas everyone else (except the bottom of the working classes) buy theirs.
Also, apparently one Tory MP was heard to speak derogatorily about Michael Hesletine: "Of course, he bought his furniture".