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01-21-2017, 07:01 PM
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#41
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Rio Grande Valley
Posts: 38,007
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nemo2
'Upper class' is suggestive of aristocracy, and they're concerned that Madame Defarge might make an appearance one day.
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LOL!
If thye are not wearing powdered wigs and shiny silk breeches and hose and pumps with those fancy buckles I don't think they need to worry....
Wait - the founding fathers were caught wearing those same clothes!!!
__________________
Retired since summer 1999.
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01-21-2017, 07:06 PM
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#42
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 8,368
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Meadbh
Somewhat surprisingly, I tested as Elite.
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I registered as Elite also, not surprising, more like astonishing.
My (supposed) ranking reminds me of when I returned to school as a (cough cough) 'mature' student.......at one point, close to graduation, one of the instructors announced that "The people in here are among the top 5% in the country"......to which I replied "Well there must be some dumb *** out there because there are some dumb *** in here".
__________________
"Exit, pursued by a bear."
The Winter's Tale, William Shakespeare
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01-21-2017, 09:06 PM
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#43
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 17,203
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Meadbh
Here is an interesting survey from Prof. Mike Savage of the London School of Economics. Historically, the British concept of "class" has been very bound up in one's ancestry. Savage's research on Social Class in the 21st Century takes into account economic, cultural and social factors. At the end, there is a survey. Somewhat surprisingly, I tested as Elite. I would have said I was solidly middle class. Perhaps the fact that I am not British had something to do with it.
What is your 21st Century social class? - BBC News
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Interesting.... I am technically middle class.... maybe start another thread on this....
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01-21-2017, 11:29 PM
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#44
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 873
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Grew up middle class. Got married at 19 and was poverty level for about the first 7 years of marriage. Careers took off. Retired upper middle class. Sold our big house and moved into a little 800 square foot house in a blue collar area. Love it here. The people seem so much more real.
I am sure no one in the would suspect our worth money wise and don't really care. There are good people and bad people no matter where you go. It is how you treat people and how they treat you that is what "class" is to me, not money.
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01-22-2017, 01:27 AM
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#45
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: SF East Bay
Posts: 4,324
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The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club.
__________________
Contentedly ER, with 3 furry friends (now, sadly, 1).
Planning my escape to the wide open spaces in my campervan (with my remaining kitty, of course!)
On a mission to become the world's second most boring man.
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01-22-2017, 06:55 AM
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#46
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Moderator
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Flyover country
Posts: 25,199
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nemo2
'Upper class' is suggestive of aristocracy, and they're concerned that Madame Defarge might make an appearance one day.
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I think we can deal with her. It's Frau Blucher I'm afraid of.
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01-22-2017, 07:33 AM
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#47
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 8,368
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^ Love Cloris Leachman - if she makes it she'll be 91 in April, but it seems she's very frail.
__________________
"Exit, pursued by a bear."
The Winter's Tale, William Shakespeare
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01-22-2017, 08:21 AM
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#48
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Alberta/Ontario/ Arizona
Posts: 3,393
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Interesting discussion if not a little self absorbed. Like Katsmeow, my background was solid lower middle class. I was the first of our extended family to go to University. From a financial point of view I have done better than my whole extended family combined. As you move up the financial "league tables" you tend to associate with people who have a lot more than you do. I think some of the "roughness" of my personality wore off. I became quite comfortable moving in these circles.
But I never thought of it as a "class" distinction, rather a "wealth" distinction. A lot of wealthy people have no "class," and many less wealthy people have lots of "class". Obviously, wealthy people tend to spend more money and do things a little differently than less wealthy people. Being confident allows you to be comfortable wherever you are.
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01-22-2017, 08:22 AM
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#49
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 9,343
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I do not know if I truly ever changed "classes". But one thing is decidedly different now in retirement. When working most friends and acquaintances of social interactions were with white collar. Now it is decidedly blue collar in retirement. What a hoot... We would need a 7 second delay mechanism if conversations were on tv. Some "red" some "blue", all inappropriate!
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01-22-2017, 08:35 AM
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#50
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2006
Location: west coast, hi there!
Posts: 8,808
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I looked it up and apparently I'm in the H. Sapiens class:
P.S. Missed biology in school. It's comforting to know I'm in the animal kingdom.
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01-22-2017, 08:47 AM
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#51
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Pacific latitude 20/49
Posts: 7,677
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Meadbh
Somewhat surprisingly, I tested as Elite. I would have said I was solidly middle class. Perhaps the fact that I am not British had something to do with it.
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Also the same surprising result. I think one of the things I find is that class in US/Canada has very little to do with money. Money is a great enabler, but not a prime factor in behaviour.
__________________
For the fun of it...Keith
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01-22-2017, 09:11 AM
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#52
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Lawn chair in Texas
Posts: 14,183
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It's complicated...
Parents were HS grads, working as a production mechanic at a union factory, and a billing clerk. I suppose their income level made us middle classish, though given the depressed nature of our locale, we were almost upper middle by comparison.
My income over the years was well above median, but certainly any skilled tradesman had the potential to earn more. My income in retirement is about median for "household" income, though I'm single, so if, heaven forbid, I was to marry, that would bump "us" into a higher category.
As far as lifestyle, I'd say solidly middle class. Thankfully, I can eat out at a level above fast food, but well below Ruth Chris. My home is nice, my car is relatively new, but I have no debt besides the mortgage, and could easily cover a few thousand for an emergency expense.
I've seen, up close, both extreme poverty and extreme wealth. Glad I'm neither, not that I have an aversion to wealth, just never had whatever it took to get to that level.
I'm likely on the lower end of income/assets in comparison to the demographic on this board, but I don't give that much thought. I do sometimes find it bemusing that folks with 10x or more my nest egg can quibble so much over seemingly trivial purchases or expenses, but then that's why/how many of us ended up with a nest egg at all...
__________________
Have Funds, Will Retire
...not doing anything of true substance...
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01-22-2017, 09:18 AM
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#53
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Moderator
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Flyover country
Posts: 25,199
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My background was distinctly lower class. Father had about six years in a one-room rural schoolhouse and that was it. Drove a bus for a living (think Ralph Kramden) and mother was a SAHM. I was the first on either side to go to college.
The funny thing is that where we lived (a backwater part of Brooklyn), everyone else was the same, so I didn't actually realize I was part of a lower socioeconomic status group until I finished college and got out in the real world. Quite an eye opener!
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01-22-2017, 10:18 AM
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#54
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: https://www.google.com
Posts: 750
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Danmar
A lot of wealthy people have no "class," and many less wealthy people have lots of "class".
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ain't that the truth. Oh, pardon my use of the word 'ain't'
How classless of me...
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01-22-2017, 10:53 AM
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#55
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 11,078
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hesperus
ain't that the truth. Oh, pardon my use of the word 'ain't'
How classless of me...
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Thank you.
I've had an interesting life and have no care of class.
I'm of European decent and spent years w*rking where I was definitely a minority. All kinds of interesting people most very nice folks, many were illiterate, some homeless. One guy who had more common smarts then 90% of the world signed his check "X". One guy couldn't come in for a week cause his wife shot him. Two guys who were in prison for years cause they killed people. We all got along.
Then in a different part of life I hung out with highly educated and wealthy individuals. We ate at some very fine restaurants, stayed in high class hotels all over the world.
I'm grateful for all the experiences. From the toothless logger who told me about being there when Ken McElroy was murdered; to the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company who told me about meeting his wife, it's a great life.
I guess I am middle class. Despite the Elite score.
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01-22-2017, 11:59 AM
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#56
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Moderator
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: San Diego
Posts: 14,170
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I grew up in a white collar upper middle class household... Both parents were college educated - not typical in the early 60's....but dad was super frugal (aka cheap) so I wore hand-me-downs and rode the bus to high school when friends were given cars. (Or I bummed rides from said friends.). I didn't go straight to college, rather moved out and worked a clerical job... that taught me a bit about how folks who had less, growing up, lived... Gave me new respect for learning about different socio economic groups.
As an engineer who married an architect - kids are being raised in a similar manner... cheap parents who make them ride the bus and wear hand-me-downs... but all their needs are met and they are expected to go to college (on our dime.) I was concerned they would be a bit sheltered in our neighborhood of upper middle class white-ness... so I found academically excellent schools that are in more diverse socio economic areas... They are exposed to kids like them (who were also drawn to the academic excellence from more privileged neighborhoods) as well as kids who's family's don't have the same means.... It's triggered some interesting conversations at the dinner table. And my kids are peers with folks of different races and economics... more so than at the neighborhood school. I'm hoping this will make them grow up to respect diversity...
As for the word "class"... my grandmother epitomized the word and I try to be like her. She recognized that snobbery (oooh - that person used the wrong fork!!!) was RUDE and classless... A truly classy person makes everyone around them feel at ease, regardless of their social standing.
__________________
Retired June 2014. No longer an enginerd - now I'm just a nerd.
micro pensions 6%, rental income 20%
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01-22-2017, 12:05 PM
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#57
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 2,657
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Quote:
I looked it up and apparently I'm in the H. Sapiens class:
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H Sapiens is a Species, not a class. You are in the Mammalia class.
And I apparently am in the Pedant class.
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01-22-2017, 12:25 PM
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#58
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Moderator
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Eastern WV Panhandle
Posts: 25,302
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rodi
As for the word "class"... my grandmother epitomized the word and I try to be like her. She recognized that snobbery (oooh - that person used the wrong fork!!!) was RUDE and classless... A truly classy person makes everyone around them feel at ease, regardless of their social standing.
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Exactly what comes to mind to me.
I have no idea if the following story is true, but I read of it somewhere. Purportedly at a fancy/state dinner at a meal attended by Abraham Lincoln after the meal one of the guests, having no idea was the finger bowl was for, drank the water from it. Observing this, and not wishing to embarrass the man, Lincoln then drank the water from his finger bowl.
That's class.
__________________
When I was a kid I wanted to be older. This is not what I expected.
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01-22-2017, 12:58 PM
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#59
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Nov 2007
Posts: 7,746
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Quote:
Originally Posted by braumeister
The funny thing is that where we lived (a backwater part of Brooklyn), everyone else was the same, so I didn't actually realize I was part of a lower socioeconomic status group until I finished college and got out in the real world. Quite an eye opener!
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We live in a below median value neighborhood. Gentrifying quickly but certainly not yet a "desirable" place to live in the city. While walking the kids to school one day, they were shocked to learn that we don't live in a mansion and that the average home built today is much larger than our house. It's all relative, and many of their elementary school peers live in single wide trailers, small condos, or apartments.
__________________
Retired in 2013 at age 33. Keeping busy reading, blogging, relaxing, gaming, and enjoying the outdoors with my wife and 3 kids (8, 13, and 15).
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01-22-2017, 01:32 PM
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#60
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: May 2006
Location: west coast, hi there!
Posts: 8,808
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Quote:
Originally Posted by growing_older
H Sapiens is a Species, not a class. You are in the Mammalia class.
And I apparently am in the Pedant class.
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Thank you, never to late to learn some biology. Somehow I missed it in hight school.
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