I think we put them down, not for living where they do (I mean, who knows!) but for how critical and aloof they come across when speaking of others. Surely they are aware that upwards of 80%/90% of the country live in either new builds, rented homes, terraced houses or estates, in various degrees of ownership. They are in cloud cuckoo land, which is apparent anytime someone begins the weekly 'MC signifiers' threads. They don't seem to understand that you wouldn't need to ask if you knew..In my experience it was a room round the back by/off the kitchen, most likely with flagstone flooring or some sort of flooring you don't mind being trashed. It's where you kept the stinking 900 year old Barbours, the dog leads, dog toys and muddy boots, wellies etc. Where your six foot strapping young sons can divest themselves of their muddy rugby gear after a match! And guns apparentlyThe naice
shoes, coats and blazers were round by the front door.
Of course neither of those posters actually have a boot room. The one designing the house probably lives on some new build estate built on green belt land and is now calling herself rural. No shame in living on a new build estate, I live on one and for a whole bunch of reasons much prefer where I live now to where I grew up in the hole of nowhere.
Anytime a thread begins asking for information about all things middle class, they hoot and holler and clamour in to feel a part of the crowd. MN'ers even admit to thinking all it's users are middle class, so they love to chat about Boden, Me&Em, etc etc, but it's all fluff. Aspiration. They might think that if they tell themselves they are a part of that club for long enough they will magically become it.
As a middle aged MC who rents (forgive the irony) I can honestly say there is no real signifier, not even home ownership anymore. Maybe education, some particular traits, but I do think MN's version of middle class is actually upper middle - we never knew anyone with those signifiers which are often trotted out. Just a few low paid teachers, and the odd doc. You read the broadsheets instead of the rags, that's all I know. My generation all wanted to appear WC because it felt more alive and authentic. I guess we are all assholes at heart
MN's version of MC is very, very conservative, old fashioned. And this is the crowd on S&B who are terrified of looking dated!
So in effect they are looking down on their own, their roots, their self loathing over lost dreams. Or else it is just the state of our society, which encourages otherwise ordinary people to feel tit about their life because there's always someone doing better. If they pop on MN they have company in their misery, and can practice how to appear native to a higher class. Perhaps this makes them think others will respect and admire them. Of course in the real world, outside of a few select communities, no one gives a damn. It won't help them or make a difference anyway.
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