M. JL Esq. wrote:
Royally Speaking
April 29, 2011
By Ben Zimmer
"Much of the media narrative leading up to today's wedding of Prince
William and Kate Middleton has focused on Kate's "commoner" background,
particularly her mother's family, hailing from the humble coal-mining
country of northern England. In class-conscious British society,
differences in social background come through in speech patterns � as
anyone who's seen "My Fair Lady" knows. So how have the royal family and
the middle-class Middletons navigated this tricky linguistic terrain?
Kate's parents, Michael and Carole, are self-made millionaires, having
set up a successful party-supply business. But when William and Kate
began dating, after meeting as classmates at University of St. Andrews,
stories began emerging from the royal circle about snobbery over the
Middletons' less-than-aristocratic roots. Carole was particularly
singled out for abuse, especially after she was seen chewing nicotine
gum at William's military college graduation parade in 2006, in the
presence of William's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.
The following year, the knives came out for Carole when it was reported
that William and Kate had split up. Now the focus was on something more
embarrassing than gum-chewing: Carole's middle-class speech,
inappropriate when addressing the Queen. The London tabloids
breathlessly reported (based on unnamed "Royal sources") that Kate was
clearly not a good match for William because her mother used words such
as Pleased to meet you, toilet, and Pardon?
Pleased to meet you, the tabloids explained, is a gauche way to greet
the Queen, when Hello, ma'am is called for. Rather than toilet, one
should say lavatory or loo. And when asking someone to repeat a
question, middle-class Pardon? is frowned upon, in favor of a simple
What? All of this might seem extremely puzzling to outsiders, but these
class-based shibboleths do actually exist in British society (even if
Carole's alleged gaffes might have been embellished as tabloid fodder).
The class differences trumpeted by the tabloids were first laid out in
1954, when the linguist Alan S.C. Ross introduced the terms "U and
non-U" to describe English usage of the upper class and the aspiring
middle class. Ross had published his article in an obscure journal, but
the novelist and socialite Nancy Mitford (who came from a decidedly
aristocratic background) brought "U and non-U" to wider attention in an
essay she wrote two years later. Even then, Pleased to meet you, toilet,
and Pardon? all made the "non-U" vocabulary lists of Ross and Mitford �
indicative, they said, of unseemly social striving among middle-class
speakers trying to appear more genteel.
Much has changed in Britain's social landscape in the last half century,
and yet these class markers continue to persist. In a 2004 book entitled
Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour, the social
anthropologist Kate Fox lists "seven words that the English uppers and
upper-middles regard as infallible shibboleths."
Fox writes, "Utter any one of these 'seven deadly sins' in the presence
of these higher classes, and their on-board class-radar devices will
start bleeping and flashing." Pardon? and toilet lead off the list,
followed by serviette (instead of napkin), dinner (instead of lunch,
when referring to the midday meal), settee (instead of sofa), lounge
(instead of sitting room or drawing room), and sweet (instead of
pudding, for the sweet course at the end of a meal that Americans call
dessert).
As the flap over Carole Middleton's supposed linguistic offenses showed,
there are still lingering anxieties over how to "talk posh." Actually,
as Fox explains in her book, "If you want to 'talk posh,' you will have
to stop using the term 'posh,' for a start: the correct upper-class word
is 'smart.' In upper-middle and upper-class circles, 'posh' can only be
used ironically, in a jokey tone of voice to show that you know it is a
low-class word." Got it?
As for Kate and William, any qualms over the class divide don't seem to
have manifested themselves since their temporary breakup in 2007. (In
the meantime, a more socially embarrassing relative of Kate has emerged:
her dissolute uncle Gary, brother of Carole, who sports a "Nouveau
Riche" tattoo across his shoulder blades.) It turns out that the couple
and their circle are united in another kind of social grouping, known as
rahs or yahs, roughly equivalent to American preppies. A recent Slate
articlelampooned the affluent ways of the rahs and how they
stereotypically speak:
What is the rah patois? You must know our ding-a-lingo, darling.
Everything is glorious, divine, splendid, beauteous, naughty, a twirling
whirl. We adore archaisms: alas, anon, perchance. Never say evening.
It's eve. Never say balsamic. It's balsam. Adorn everything with French.
Je t'embrasse. Ce soir. Chez moi. I am a fl�neuse. You are a fl�neur.
Let us troubadour ensemble. Bisous!
Bonded in rah-dom, perhaps Kate and William can steer clear of the
social pitfalls of past generations, creating a new kind of prestigious
talk to aspire to. In the meantime, if you happen to get an audience
with William's grandmum, remember not to tell her you're pleased to meet
her."
--
JL
Royally Speaking
April 29, 2011
By Ben Zimmer
"Much of the media narrative leading up to today's wedding of Prince
William and Kate Middleton has focused on Kate's "commoner" background,
particularly her mother's family, hailing from the humble coal-mining
country of northern England. In class-conscious British society,
differences in social background come through in speech patterns � as
anyone who's seen "My Fair Lady" knows. So how have the royal family and
the middle-class Middletons navigated this tricky linguistic terrain?
Kate's parents, Michael and Carole, are self-made millionaires, having
set up a successful party-supply business. But when William and Kate
began dating, after meeting as classmates at University of St. Andrews,
stories began emerging from the royal circle about snobbery over the
Middletons' less-than-aristocratic roots. Carole was particularly
singled out for abuse, especially after she was seen chewing nicotine
gum at William's military college graduation parade in 2006, in the
presence of William's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.
The following year, the knives came out for Carole when it was reported
that William and Kate had split up. Now the focus was on something more
embarrassing than gum-chewing: Carole's middle-class speech,
inappropriate when addressing the Queen. The London tabloids
breathlessly reported (based on unnamed "Royal sources") that Kate was
clearly not a good match for William because her mother used words such
as Pleased to meet you, toilet, and Pardon?
Pleased to meet you, the tabloids explained, is a gauche way to greet
the Queen, when Hello, ma'am is called for. Rather than toilet, one
should say lavatory or loo. And when asking someone to repeat a
question, middle-class Pardon? is frowned upon, in favor of a simple
What? All of this might seem extremely puzzling to outsiders, but these
class-based shibboleths do actually exist in British society (even if
Carole's alleged gaffes might have been embellished as tabloid fodder).
The class differences trumpeted by the tabloids were first laid out in
1954, when the linguist Alan S.C. Ross introduced the terms "U and
non-U" to describe English usage of the upper class and the aspiring
middle class. Ross had published his article in an obscure journal, but
the novelist and socialite Nancy Mitford (who came from a decidedly
aristocratic background) brought "U and non-U" to wider attention in an
essay she wrote two years later. Even then, Pleased to meet you, toilet,
and Pardon? all made the "non-U" vocabulary lists of Ross and Mitford �
indicative, they said, of unseemly social striving among middle-class
speakers trying to appear more genteel.
Much has changed in Britain's social landscape in the last half century,
and yet these class markers continue to persist. In a 2004 book entitled
Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour, the social
anthropologist Kate Fox lists "seven words that the English uppers and
upper-middles regard as infallible shibboleths."
Fox writes, "Utter any one of these 'seven deadly sins' in the presence
of these higher classes, and their on-board class-radar devices will
start bleeping and flashing." Pardon? and toilet lead off the list,
followed by serviette (instead of napkin), dinner (instead of lunch,
when referring to the midday meal), settee (instead of sofa), lounge
(instead of sitting room or drawing room), and sweet (instead of
pudding, for the sweet course at the end of a meal that Americans call
dessert).
As the flap over Carole Middleton's supposed linguistic offenses showed,
there are still lingering anxieties over how to "talk posh." Actually,
as Fox explains in her book, "If you want to 'talk posh,' you will have
to stop using the term 'posh,' for a start: the correct upper-class word
is 'smart.' In upper-middle and upper-class circles, 'posh' can only be
used ironically, in a jokey tone of voice to show that you know it is a
low-class word." Got it?
As for Kate and William, any qualms over the class divide don't seem to
have manifested themselves since their temporary breakup in 2007. (In
the meantime, a more socially embarrassing relative of Kate has emerged:
her dissolute uncle Gary, brother of Carole, who sports a "Nouveau
Riche" tattoo across his shoulder blades.) It turns out that the couple
and their circle are united in another kind of social grouping, known as
rahs or yahs, roughly equivalent to American preppies. A recent Slate
articlelampooned the affluent ways of the rahs and how they
stereotypically speak:
What is the rah patois? You must know our ding-a-lingo, darling.
Everything is glorious, divine, splendid, beauteous, naughty, a twirling
whirl. We adore archaisms: alas, anon, perchance. Never say evening.
It's eve. Never say balsamic. It's balsam. Adorn everything with French.
Je t'embrasse. Ce soir. Chez moi. I am a fl�neuse. You are a fl�neur.
Let us troubadour ensemble. Bisous!
Bonded in rah-dom, perhaps Kate and William can steer clear of the
social pitfalls of past generations, creating a new kind of prestigious
talk to aspire to. In the meantime, if you happen to get an audience
with William's grandmum, remember not to tell her you're pleased to meet
her."
--
JL