Class---What Is It & Whose Got It? Who Doesn't

Class, schmass, who the heck cares. Its all a big act anyway and I'll be glad when the word and the class/caste system is obsolete.
 

Cookie said:
Class, schmass, who the heck cares. Its all a big act anyway and I'll be glad when the word and the class/caste system is obsolete.
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Cookie, this is not about class which is short for classification, but a behavior which anyone can display.
 
Ralphy1 said:
Well, she is a queen not a saint...
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True but this is about class, no sainthood, and she don't have it!

There are those who would suggest that she, or any of the Saxe Coburg dynasty, are not even in the Upper Ten Thousand.

I personally find them rather brutish, even as far back as Victoria who, although she was the last of the Hanoverians, was brought up as a Saxe Coburg.

Over here class has much to do with breeding, and most of the Royals have very little English blood.

The English tend to pick on any spare European Royal and have tried, as I've said before, French, Scandinavian, Welsh, Scottish, Dutch a whole slew of Germans, including the present lot, but bou not a lot from England!
 
Ameriscot said:
Cookie, this is not about class which is short for classification, but a behavior which anyone can display.
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Annie, I know what the OP means by class, however, the behavior has interestingly been given the the term class, and I think this behavior can often be just pretension or acting, as they might have been taught in acting school or in their private finishing school. We might think of Audrey Hepburn or Jackie Onassis or the queen of England as being classy, but all we really know is what we have learned from the media, we don't know those people at all nor do we have any idea what they are really like in private, they might swear like a longshoreman and spit on the floor in private for all we know. So I think the term class doesn't mean much at all.
 
I think the so-called betters saw how much respect the French had for them during the French revolution, Ralphy. Not pretty.
 
Cookie said:
Annie, I know what the OP means by class, however, the behavior has interestingly been given the the term class, and I think this behavior can often be just pretension or acting, as they might have been taught in acting school or in their private finishing school. We might think of Audrey Hepburn or Jackie Onassis or the queen of England as being classy, but all we really know is what we have learned from the media, we don't know those people at all nor do we have any idea what they are really like in private, they might swear like a longshoreman and spit on the floor in private for all we know. So I think the term class doesn't mean much at all.
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Cookie, how can you know what the OP meant when he didn't give his own interpretation of "class"? He left it open for all of us.

Wouldn't it mean something different to everyone?

We can never fully know another person, no matter how close we are to them - we cannot know every single thought they have - so we are left with averages - the opinions and stories of friends and acquaintances. Perhaps that is where the concept of "class" truly originates ... not as a fixed standard but more of a sliding scale.
 
Cookie said:
Annie, I know what the OP means by class, however, the behavior has interestingly been given the the term class, and I think this behavior can often be just pretension or acting, as they might have been taught in acting school or in their private finishing school. We might think of Audrey Hepburn or Jackie Onassis or the queen of England as being classy, but all we really know is what we have learned from the media, we don't know those people at all nor do we have any idea what they are really like in private, they might swear like a longshoreman and spit on the floor in private for all we know. So I think the term class doesn't mean much at all.
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I think of class as behaving in a certain way such as not reacting when someone insults you in public, or being very generous to someone in need, etc. Not an act, but being sincere.
 
adjectiveinformal

adjective: class
1.
showing stylish excellence.
"he's a class player"
synonyms:classy, decent, gracious, respectable, noble "a class player"



Phil, I think this is the general definition most people including myself, and I'm assuming the OP as well, go by here to define class.
 
Cookie said:
adjectiveinformal

adjective: class
1.
showing stylish excellence.
"he's a class player"
synonyms:classy, decent, gracious, respectable, noble "a class player"


Phil, I think this is the general definition most people including myself, and I'm assuming the OP as well, go by here to define class.
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And yet ... like so many words there is a range of definitions. Can you not have innate class, learned class, true or false class?

One of those definitions, for example - "decent" - to me, that means nothing in itself. Decent is a mealy-mouthed word, not very strong - it implies that I'm just good enough. To me, class means being exceptionally good.

But if I went by that definition I too could have class, just by being "decent" - "Oh, Phil? He's a decent enough chap - he's got class".

Somehow that just doesn't work for me ... damning me with faint praise.
 
BlunderWoman said:
oops I misspelled man. I used to watch Roseanne sometimes when bored. The ex would come in a flip the channel and say " Yuck!"
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I agree that Roseanne is not my ideal woman, and most would label her as common and vulgar. About a year ago, however, I was zoned out, flipping channels and caught one of the old original "Roseanne" episodes. I was very surprised at how much honest truth there was in the show. I thought there was some real wisdom and love shown in some of the dialogue. I actually watched a couple of other episodes on purpose. But no. Certainly not "classy".

Not classy? Donald Trump. No need to name others. Can't top that.

A lot of the old time news casters were classy. Murrow, Cronkite, Huntley, Brinkley, Brokaw. Gone forever, I guess. We do have Charlie Rose though. Among women; Jane Seymour, Doris Day, Jane Goodall, Sandra Day O'Connor, Michelle Obama, Eleanor Roosevelt. We have some pretty classy gals right on here, but I can't play favorites. Of course, I'm classy! :smug1:
 
Well I grew up during WWII, so I think the Queen is pretty classy. She was born into the role after all, and I think she has carried it off pretty well. As long as we have beaten her up though, let me throw out another Brit. How about Vera Lynn? For me, a Yank, possibly the classiest person nominated so far.
 
Underock1 said:
Well I grew up during WWII, so I think the Queen is pretty classy. She was born into the role after all, and I think she has carried it off pretty well. As long as we have beaten her up though, let me throw out another Brit. How about Vera Lynn? For me, a Yank, possibly the classiest person nominated so far.
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I am most definitely not a royalist and think people having wealth and status just by accident of birth should stop. However, the queen did not choose to have a life of responsibility and little privacy and I think she's done well. I do have some criticisms of her, but overall she did what was expected and didn't run away like her irresponsible uncle.
 
Ralphy1 said:
You should show a little more respect towards your betters...
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The day I regard an English princeling as my equal, let alone my better, is a long way off.

My homage is the to the true Prince of Wales, descendant of Llewellyn, who resides in a 3 bedroom semi in Chester!
 
"She was born into the role after all,"

But she wasn't, any more than her farther was.

Until the day of her accession she was only the heir Presumptive, never the Heir Apparent as Charles is.
 
I hear you Phil, and I still think the word denotes a certain superiority in character and style, and not I'm not a fan of it and never use it to describe anyone or anything. To me it smacks of so many kinds of discrimination.
 

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