Topic > Analysis of Kate Fox's book "Watching The English"

Fox shares with the audience what words would be said in certain social classes and what the big no nos are for the upper class. This chapter also explains, for example, how each social class speaks differently; the higher class eliminates all vowels and the lower class eliminates or replaces consonants. Let's say the sentence is "ten thirty", the lower class would say "ten thirty" while the upper class would say "hpstn" (which I find so hard to believe that you can even pronounce it). According to Fox there are "The Seven Deadly Sins" in the English language that will determine which social class you belong to. The first word is "Pardon", which I happen to say all the time, apparently it's worse than swearing at them. The upper class says "what" instead, which would be disrespectful here in the United States and forgiveness would be considered polite. The second word, “Toilet,” is what the lower class says, while the upper class says “toilet” or “toilet.” 'Napkin' is the third sin, as the lower classes would say, and the upper classes would call it 'napkin'. The next word crosses three different classes and is "Sofa". The lower middle class would say that, the upper middle class would say "couch" as well as "sofa". My luck is to call it "couch", as the upper class calls it. “Lounge” would actually be used in the upper class, while “living room” would be used in the lower class. In one of our first lessons we learned how each class has different names for the dish served after dinner. The upper class calls it "pudding", "dessert" is referred to by the upper-middle class, "dessert" by the middle class, and "after" by the lower class. The way classes are formed is completely different in the United States than in England. In the US we form our classes based on how much money you have, while in England it's all up to you