StefanAVFC Posted September 3 VT Supporter Share Posted September 3 No class system at all in Poland., very much down a rural/urban divide. But it's changing, as more and more people flee the cities into big housing estates. Then it'll be interesting to see if a proper defined middle class forms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted September 3 VT Supporter Share Posted September 3 36 minutes ago, StefanAVFC said: No class system at all in Poland., very much down a rural/urban divide. But it's changing, as more and more people flee the cities into big housing estates. Then it'll be interesting to see if a proper defined middle class forms. Is there no 'cultural divide' between (say) educated professionals and manual workers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakemineVanilla Posted September 3 Share Posted September 3 Has anyone felt the need to change their accent since they got a bit further up the greasy pole? It doesn't seem long since the aspirational upwardly-mobile would take elocution lessons, especially young women with hypergamous ambitions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StefanAVFC Posted September 3 VT Supporter Share Posted September 3 40 minutes ago, mjmooney said: Is there no 'cultural divide' between (say) educated professionals and manual workers? Maybe it's slowly happening, but the shadow of the Soviet Union still hangs over tbh 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bielesibub Posted September 3 Share Posted September 3 25 minutes ago, MakemineVanilla said: Has anyone felt the need to change their accent since they got a bit further up the greasy pole? It doesn't seem long since the aspirational upwardly-mobile would take elocution lessons, especially young women with hypergamous ambitions. When I was able to work, I was constantly taken the piss out of. As I am stubborn and knew my sh1t it made me even more determined to keep the accent! I've been darn sarf for 30 years (or 30 yurs - with the accent) and I've still got the accent, comes out proper after a few pints. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TDR V2 Posted September 3 Share Posted September 3 I have a telephone voice which is even more brummie than my normal voice. I've lived in the black country for so long I know have a yam yam twang too. I have to remind folk over here that I'm a brummie 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vive_La_Villa Posted September 3 Share Posted September 3 (edited) 1 hour ago, MakemineVanilla said: Has anyone felt the need to change their accent since they got a bit further up the greasy pole? It doesn't seem long since the aspirational upwardly-mobile would take elocution lessons, especially young women with hypergamous ambitions. I do try to tone it down. At one point I was considering taking some accent reduction lessons. edit: to be clear it's more the use of correct pronunciation rather than accent. I'm from Walsall so it's probably more yam yam than Brummie. Edited September 3 by Vive_La_Villa 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugeley Villa Posted September 3 Author Share Posted September 3 I continue to swear in front of my kids so that makes me scum class. I’ve gave up trying to tone it down . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TDR V2 Posted September 3 Share Posted September 3 1 minute ago, Rugeley Villa said: I continue to swear in front of my kids so that makes me scum class. I’ve gave up trying to tone it down . I'm also a swearer 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugeley Villa Posted September 3 Author Share Posted September 3 4 minutes ago, TDR V2 said: I'm also a swearer Won’t hurt them will it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted September 3 VT Supporter Share Posted September 3 3 minutes ago, Rugeley Villa said: I continue to swear in front of my kids so that makes me scum class. I’ve gave up trying to tone it down . My Dad never, EVER swore in the house (in the pub with his mates was a different matter). I've always been the same, and tried my best never to swear in front of the children (and now grandchildren). Unfortunately it's probably been a waste of time, as my missus is far less restrained. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugeley Villa Posted September 3 Author Share Posted September 3 1 minute ago, mjmooney said: My Dad never, EVER swore in the house (in the pub with his mates was a different matter). I've always been the same, and tried my best never to swear in front of the children (and now grandchildren). Unfortunately it's probably been a waste of time, as my missus is far less restrained. My grandad never swore either in the house and would pull anyone up for doing so. At work was different by all accounts. We had a swear pot the other year which kind of defeated the object because the kids would try and wind me up to swear I never swear at my kids though. Good to hear it’s quite common. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakemineVanilla Posted September 3 Share Posted September 3 9 minutes ago, mjmooney said: My Dad never, EVER swore in the house (in the pub with his mates was a different matter). I've always been the same, and tried my best never to swear in front of the children (and now grandchildren). Unfortunately it's probably been a waste of time, as my missus is far less restrained. There was an unwritten law in my parents' home that only certain swear words were permissable but only for adults, and they were bloody, bugger and sod; anything stronger was considered taboo. From what I heard from my father's colleagues, he led a double-life! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFC_Hitz Posted September 3 Share Posted September 3 1 hour ago, StefanAVFC said: Maybe it's slowly happening, but the shadow of the Soviet Union still hangs over tbh In post-socialist Bulgaria, new social classes have popped up: Wealthy Elite: Rich entrepreneurs and investors living in luxury. Middle Class: Professionals with decent jobs and education, enjoying a good lifestyle. Emerging Working Class: Service workers and small business employees, facing job instability. Underclass: People struggling with low wages and limited opportunities. Then there is what I call the Mitko Class. A large group of people, who don't pay tax and openly exploit the young(ish) state institutions. Involved in corruption and mafia related activities. Quite openly. They're uneducated in a traditional sense. They fly around in g-wagons and generally act the arse. Nothing is done because they pay off or neutralise any effort to convict them or bring them to justice. Its just a lot more open. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_10 Posted September 3 Share Posted September 3 1 hour ago, bielesibub said: When I was able to work, I was constantly taken the piss out of. As I am stubborn and knew my sh1t it made me even more determined to keep the accent! I've been darn sarf for 30 years (or 30 yurs - with the accent) and I've still got the accent, comes out proper after a few pints. I have mostly lost mine. It gets a bit stronger when I am back in Birmingham or I am angry, but it's mostly gone now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted September 3 Share Posted September 3 I got in trouble a few years ago as we were sitting at a roundabout and a voice from the back said " come on love , put your **** foot down" so I realised that swearing in front of 4 years olds wasn't cool , but My kids are 17 and 19 so I can swear in front of them now , its only usually traffic jams and Villa matches where I let rip though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_10 Posted September 3 Share Posted September 3 I would say that I am working class. I grew up in a poor area & when my parents moved us across the country I lived in another poor area. My parents worked factory jobs when they worked. They both had poor educations & while one was pretty clever, the other was not. We ate cheap food when I was a kid & I had school meals. I went to a public school & I gained reasonable grades. While I had ideas of higher education, my laziness meant that my further education grades weren't good enough, so I had to do freelance work within my field for free to gather a portfolio, while at the same time working in a call centre so that I could save the money to be able to afford go to university when I had my portfolio ready. I met a girl there & we moved in together after a while & shared the bills. We managed to purchase a small house but only because of those stupid mortgages that loaned you more money than the house was worth. (We couldn't have done that today.) I eventually went to Uni & got a good grade for my degree. When I moved back to Birmingham I had profit from the house sale that allowed me to pay rent while I looked for work & I did find a reasonable job pretty quickly. Ended up moving into a nice detached house with a garden that needed a gardener & lived there comfortably with old folks all around us. It was lovely. We moved back to Devon after a few years though when my partner was homesick. I eventually got a job I loved, even though the pay wasn't great, but the flat we got was really nice & we were considering moving to one of the nicer areas of the City near the waterfront, but we decided to part ways in the end. Well, she did, lol. I rented a small one bed flat close to the city centre in a reasonable area. My life changed pretty drastically after that, which is a story for another day, but I still consider myself as working class because even though I went on a bit of a journey, I had to work extremely hard for everything good that I ever had. I was never given money or property from family or friends. If I didn't have something & I could not afford, then I went without. And I made a rule to never borrow money from friends or family. It was always just me, & for a pretty long while, my ex. Although I think the problem with "class" is it's pretty fluid. When I was a kid, I was 100% firmly in the "working class" camp. As I got to about 25-ish, I was probably more in the middle class camp. And that was because I pulled myself up into middle class by my bootstraps. I probably spent a good decade comfortably in that camp. And then a couple of bad hits can put you right back down where you started. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted September 3 VT Supporter Share Posted September 3 It's not like my kids didn't know all the swear words - my daughter was on the Holte End with me by the time she was ten. I had to remind her not to repeat stuff in front of her mum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bielesibub Posted September 3 Share Posted September 3 @Andy_10 made me think about growing up. I was born in Gravelly Hill, but grew up in Dorridge. I think the divide between the haves and have nots was quite obvious, I think there was only one road, my road, that had mostly semi detached / railway terraced houses, the rest of the shire seemed to be chuffing great detached houses, with multiple cars. As kids my Dad would drive us up and down the roads with the big houses so we could see how the other half lived, I'd often joke when a posh car would float by our house that it was the rich lot driving by to see how the poor lot lived. Onto swearing, I've only had to swear in front of the kids a handful of times. It really has an impact - if Dad swears he really has sh1t the bed, the kids know they need to toe the line! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MakemineVanilla Posted September 3 Share Posted September 3 Of course, social mobility works both ways - you can go both up and down. Lose a decently paid job, break up with a partner, or fall ill - they can all lead to a loss of wealth and status. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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