OK, so I really should be studying for my Spanish Grammar exam tomorrow. Buuuuuut, I thought I'd pump out another post real quick. Nothing as overwhelming and long-winded as last week's, don't worry. There's a certain topic which has been gnawing at me for ages now, and I think if I write it down then maybe my internal monologues might stop, or at least lighten up. The topic is social class.
Sometime last year I met a girl from San Francisco who grew up in England, and we got talking about the differences between the U.S. and Europe, specifically the U.K. Her opinion was that the U.K. has many fewer racial tensions and inequalities than the United States. She, who is half African- and half European-American, felt like her appearance was much less of an issue when she lived in England (London I believe) than when she later moved back to the U.S. On the contrary, she suggested that in the U.K. there were instead many more prejudices and inequalities with regard to social class. This is an idea I've heard many times in the past. So, now that I have a bit of personal experience, is the Old World really more classist than the New World?
The answer is, yes, I'm afraid it really is. I have heard the most outrageous things since I've lived here. Elitist beliefs seem to be ingrained in society and the most reasonable people will say incredibly prejudiced things without a second thought. There are entire vocabularies for class-related ideas that I have a hard time wrapping my brain around.
My first exposure to this was back in October. I met this Spaniard who had the most peculiar obsession with pijos. He explained to me how they say things like "¡qué fuerte!" and "o sea" all the time, that they dress in brand name clothing and buy the most expensive of everything. I had no idea what a pijo was, so I turned to my trusty dictionary and got "posh" as the definition. This hardly helped. I slowly began to realize, the more I heard this term, that not only were pijo and posh not part of my vocabulary, they weren't part of my world view either.
What this guy was talking about, complaining about, judging and stereotyping, was the upper class of Spanish society. I will always remember when I introduced him to my friend Victor and he quickly said, "oh, we've met." He then proceeded to heckle Victor because the type of shoes he wore and his button-up Dockers shirt marked him as a complete pijo and thus deserving prejudice and public mockery. When I met Victor I never once considered how much money his parents make or what neighborhood he might live in or what his clothing budget might be. He was just a nice guy willing to show me around Oviedo as my officially appointed tour guide. And having gotten to know him quite well, it sounds like his neighborhood is anything but the height of fashion, and his clothing style hardly means he buys toilet paper from El Corte Inglés.
Many more examples come from my time spent with the British. It seems nearly every aspect of British life has a class dimension to it. "Oh that tea is alright, but it's for builders [construction workers]. This one is more in our market." Vacationing in Spain is considered very "common" (as in something commoners do; they still think of commoners). Anyone with any class will prefer to visit France or Italy. Every single Briton in Oviedo knows which of their countrymen is the poshest, and are able to determine this instantly based upon accent. I've even heard my friend Moo referred to as simply "that really posh girl." Crazier still, this seems to successfully remind people of who she is! I swear, it's like as soon as someone says they're from Oxford they're assumed to own a yacht, and as soon as they say their from Coventry, they're assumed to own a switchblade.
Sometimes there are completely different vocabulary even. In America, the final course of a meal is always called "dessert". Not in Britain. If you call it "dessert" you are being posh, and if you call it "pudding" you are being common. The thing you use to wipe your mouth in America is just a napkin. In Britain this is the posh term, with commoner people calling it a "serviette".
I honestly can't think of anything similar to this occurring in the U.S. Granted, more educated people do speak quite differently than less educated people, but it's nowhere near as extreme. Having met quite a few British people, it's amazing that even though they are all university students, some will forever be considered lower than others, based on nothing but their accent. I asked them about this, and they've said it's a tricky subject, because it doesn't just come down to money. You can have lots of money and still be common. You can have quite a humble income and be posh. The fact is, there exists a social divide in Europe which is unparalleled in America.
When I met a friend's parents a while back, I was really caught off guard when she referred to me as "a rather posh American." At the time I didn't say anything; she meant it as the utmost compliment. I didn't even know what to think. Since then I have been pondering what she said. In what way am I posh? She had said this because, in their eyes, I speak much better than most Americans. Most British people secretly (or less than secretly) abhor how Americans speak, making minor exceptions for newscasters, old movies . . . and apparently me.
I suppose to a certain extent this is true. A friend once told me how having a more posh accent has gotten her out of trouble before. When she had a run-in with the police, she merely had to assure them nothing is wrong in her most proper voice and they went on their way. I haven't had any experience quite like this, but I do recall one occasion back in high school. We were at a debate tournament and went up against a team from a rougher part of town. In their opening argument they said things like "They was", "She don't" and "They don't have nowhere to go." We easily beat them, and afterward my teammates remarked, "How do they expect to win if they speak like that?" The sad truth is, my partner and I spoke standard "correct" English, and there was no way they could beat that. It's quite unfair when you think about it. They only speak that way because their parents do. I only speak this way because my parents do. I'd like to say it's because I was the most dedicated pupil in Mr. Hawk's Second Grade grammar class, but the truth is I got it for free. It is an advantage I have over others and I didn't have to do anything to earn it.
Nonetheless, I do not think this makes me "posh". The more I think about the term, the more indignant and defensive I get. They were calling me upper-class, saying I am different, special, elite. This does not sit well with me, and I don't think it would sit well with many Americans. There's something deep-seated in our culture which causes us to decry and deny anything snobbish. If you look at political advertisements, you can see there is a great value placed in being "just a regular joe" with a job and a mortgage, someone who barbecues with the neighbors and belongs to the PTA. It's very bad form to appear "pretentious" or "snooty".
When I was maybe 11 years old I asked my dad, "Dad, are we rich?" To this day I will never forget how upset this made him. He gave me quite the lecture, about how we are very lucky, our family lives quite comfortably, but that in no way are we different or better than anyone else because of our possessions or interests or friends. He stressed that we may have things others don't, but this is only because of hard work and sacrifice. My parents have always been sure to remind us that when I was born we lived in a tiny one-bedroom house with bars on the windows, in a humble neighborhood of Albuquerque, NM. Thrift has always been important; my mom and aunt love to brag how little they spent on any given item.
Categories like "working class", "lower middle class", "upper middle class", "posh", and "common" are all convenient ways of describing how respectable a job someone has, or how long she went to school, or whether he knows which fork to use and how to eat soup. But we must keep in mind that these are nothing more than silly labels. Class, just like Race, is a concept created by human beings. It is a product of our own small-minded worldview, not a reflection of any fundamental world order.
When I lived with my host family, Kike exclaimed once, "¡Ay, qué pijería!". Someone on the television had done something exceedingly pijo, such as dressing a child in a Versace suit. I still don't know how I'd translate the word pijería. Some things, like paella, just don't exist in America.
Sometime last year I met a girl from San Francisco who grew up in England, and we got talking about the differences between the U.S. and Europe, specifically the U.K. Her opinion was that the U.K. has many fewer racial tensions and inequalities than the United States. She, who is half African- and half European-American, felt like her appearance was much less of an issue when she lived in England (London I believe) than when she later moved back to the U.S. On the contrary, she suggested that in the U.K. there were instead many more prejudices and inequalities with regard to social class. This is an idea I've heard many times in the past. So, now that I have a bit of personal experience, is the Old World really more classist than the New World?
The answer is, yes, I'm afraid it really is. I have heard the most outrageous things since I've lived here. Elitist beliefs seem to be ingrained in society and the most reasonable people will say incredibly prejudiced things without a second thought. There are entire vocabularies for class-related ideas that I have a hard time wrapping my brain around.
My first exposure to this was back in October. I met this Spaniard who had the most peculiar obsession with pijos. He explained to me how they say things like "¡qué fuerte!" and "o sea" all the time, that they dress in brand name clothing and buy the most expensive of everything. I had no idea what a pijo was, so I turned to my trusty dictionary and got "posh" as the definition. This hardly helped. I slowly began to realize, the more I heard this term, that not only were pijo and posh not part of my vocabulary, they weren't part of my world view either.
What this guy was talking about, complaining about, judging and stereotyping, was the upper class of Spanish society. I will always remember when I introduced him to my friend Victor and he quickly said, "oh, we've met." He then proceeded to heckle Victor because the type of shoes he wore and his button-up Dockers shirt marked him as a complete pijo and thus deserving prejudice and public mockery. When I met Victor I never once considered how much money his parents make or what neighborhood he might live in or what his clothing budget might be. He was just a nice guy willing to show me around Oviedo as my officially appointed tour guide. And having gotten to know him quite well, it sounds like his neighborhood is anything but the height of fashion, and his clothing style hardly means he buys toilet paper from El Corte Inglés.
Many more examples come from my time spent with the British. It seems nearly every aspect of British life has a class dimension to it. "Oh that tea is alright, but it's for builders [construction workers]. This one is more in our market." Vacationing in Spain is considered very "common" (as in something commoners do; they still think of commoners). Anyone with any class will prefer to visit France or Italy. Every single Briton in Oviedo knows which of their countrymen is the poshest, and are able to determine this instantly based upon accent. I've even heard my friend Moo referred to as simply "that really posh girl." Crazier still, this seems to successfully remind people of who she is! I swear, it's like as soon as someone says they're from Oxford they're assumed to own a yacht, and as soon as they say their from Coventry, they're assumed to own a switchblade.
Sometimes there are completely different vocabulary even. In America, the final course of a meal is always called "dessert". Not in Britain. If you call it "dessert" you are being posh, and if you call it "pudding" you are being common. The thing you use to wipe your mouth in America is just a napkin. In Britain this is the posh term, with commoner people calling it a "serviette".
I honestly can't think of anything similar to this occurring in the U.S. Granted, more educated people do speak quite differently than less educated people, but it's nowhere near as extreme. Having met quite a few British people, it's amazing that even though they are all university students, some will forever be considered lower than others, based on nothing but their accent. I asked them about this, and they've said it's a tricky subject, because it doesn't just come down to money. You can have lots of money and still be common. You can have quite a humble income and be posh. The fact is, there exists a social divide in Europe which is unparalleled in America.
When I met a friend's parents a while back, I was really caught off guard when she referred to me as "a rather posh American." At the time I didn't say anything; she meant it as the utmost compliment. I didn't even know what to think. Since then I have been pondering what she said. In what way am I posh? She had said this because, in their eyes, I speak much better than most Americans. Most British people secretly (or less than secretly) abhor how Americans speak, making minor exceptions for newscasters, old movies . . . and apparently me.
I suppose to a certain extent this is true. A friend once told me how having a more posh accent has gotten her out of trouble before. When she had a run-in with the police, she merely had to assure them nothing is wrong in her most proper voice and they went on their way. I haven't had any experience quite like this, but I do recall one occasion back in high school. We were at a debate tournament and went up against a team from a rougher part of town. In their opening argument they said things like "They was", "She don't" and "They don't have nowhere to go." We easily beat them, and afterward my teammates remarked, "How do they expect to win if they speak like that?" The sad truth is, my partner and I spoke standard "correct" English, and there was no way they could beat that. It's quite unfair when you think about it. They only speak that way because their parents do. I only speak this way because my parents do. I'd like to say it's because I was the most dedicated pupil in Mr. Hawk's Second Grade grammar class, but the truth is I got it for free. It is an advantage I have over others and I didn't have to do anything to earn it.
Nonetheless, I do not think this makes me "posh". The more I think about the term, the more indignant and defensive I get. They were calling me upper-class, saying I am different, special, elite. This does not sit well with me, and I don't think it would sit well with many Americans. There's something deep-seated in our culture which causes us to decry and deny anything snobbish. If you look at political advertisements, you can see there is a great value placed in being "just a regular joe" with a job and a mortgage, someone who barbecues with the neighbors and belongs to the PTA. It's very bad form to appear "pretentious" or "snooty".
When I was maybe 11 years old I asked my dad, "Dad, are we rich?" To this day I will never forget how upset this made him. He gave me quite the lecture, about how we are very lucky, our family lives quite comfortably, but that in no way are we different or better than anyone else because of our possessions or interests or friends. He stressed that we may have things others don't, but this is only because of hard work and sacrifice. My parents have always been sure to remind us that when I was born we lived in a tiny one-bedroom house with bars on the windows, in a humble neighborhood of Albuquerque, NM. Thrift has always been important; my mom and aunt love to brag how little they spent on any given item.
Categories like "working class", "lower middle class", "upper middle class", "posh", and "common" are all convenient ways of describing how respectable a job someone has, or how long she went to school, or whether he knows which fork to use and how to eat soup. But we must keep in mind that these are nothing more than silly labels. Class, just like Race, is a concept created by human beings. It is a product of our own small-minded worldview, not a reflection of any fundamental world order.
When I lived with my host family, Kike exclaimed once, "¡Ay, qué pijería!". Someone on the television had done something exceedingly pijo, such as dressing a child in a Versace suit. I still don't know how I'd translate the word pijería. Some things, like paella, just don't exist in America.
Fascinating observations. What an interesting world we live in. It is unfortunate how often we try to put each other into mental "boxes" with convenient "labels" rather than just loving each other as fellow human beings.
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