Some very wealthy Old Money folks I knew of in England were the opposite of arrogant. They were actually quite embarrased of their inherited wealth, did many charitable things to make up for it and kept a low profile.
So, as with all things, its wrong to generalize too much.
There are still some of the Silver Spoon Brigade who abound, and who are delightfully and blissfully aware of what on in the real world. They are cute and nicely amusing.
There are some, however, who have been so doctrinated all their lives that those who are less wealthy/less educated/less priviliged than themselves are lesser beings.
Those who have built themselves up from nothing can be extremely snobbish, yes. But I think it is partly because, having come from poor backgrounds some of them, they intensely dislike loafers, laziness and lack of ambition in others.
Well, although I understand what you are saying and agree to a certain degree, I would have to say that the above sentence is slightly not my way of thinking. Bill Gates, for one, came from nothing, as did many of the world's millionaires. There is a British millionaire called Alan Sugar, who is the boss of several huge companies. He started by selling on a market stall in East End London (the then poor part). So, these guys came from nothing, and did well under their own effort. You would have to say that they must, therefore, know what its like to be poor and struggling too.
I remember when I was around 17, I started going out with a farmer's son.
After a month or so, he broke it off. I found out some time later that it was because his family wanted him to marry a fellow farmer's daughter so they could join the lands, and I had no "dowry".
One of my fave tunes is "Fields of Gold" by Sting. Partly because it reminds me of laying in hay fields in the evening sun drinking homemade Blow Your Head Off Scrumpy Cider after a hard day bale-getting.
Ive been told I have quite a posh voice (Think Kate Winslet). Although I was dragged up proper, I have always enjoyed more down to earth people than those in Ivory Towers. I used to be somewhat misunderstood, because of the way I talk, and thought of as posh, but Im really not!
I can roll a cigarette and drink a pint better and faster than most people I know..
Growing up in England, I had probably more experience of people with Old Money than here in the States. They are a curious bunch, and pretty much half and half of what I said. Some of them are caring, mannerly, courteous people because Mummy and Daddy had them grow up that way: some of them are selfish, condescending, pompous idiots who couldnt work out the price of milk because they think Mrs Doubtfire makes it.
Youre right..sometimes its a hard thing to admit, and sometimes one doesnt even know you are doing it.
I have come to notice more and more that Manners Maketh The Man (Woman).
Also, I think there is a huge different between an Intellectual type of person and a Well-Educated type. Intellectual types tend to spout big words without really knowing what they mean: Well-Educated types explain it for them..
Something that was touched on in an earlier post: acquired wealth and old money... People that were born with a Silver Spoon in Their Mouths are a funny crowd; often narrow-minded and sheltered from the Real World, but many times with wonderful manners and social graces. Acquired wealth types have worked hard, built up from nothing, but have a chip on their shoulders the size of The Trump Building towards those who were born into it.
I really do think that since the economic recession hit, it is so much more difficult to gauge what 'type' of person one is from their job. Its all been turned on its head now, and we all do what we have to to get by.
I think we tend to gravitate toward those who have the same interests, and therefore those who met at college, etc will have more initially to discuss. However, quite often you run out of conversation quickly outside those boundaries. Some of the rudest, most ignorant people I have ever come across have been Ivy League types, Oxbridge types..
I think intelligence and common sense stem from your inherent character, and no amount of education of social status can increase or decrease that.
It has nothing to do with the area I live it; it is an observation in general, from what I have read on the forums, from what I see on TV, from what I have heard and seen in all the countries I have lived in.
Are you a Social Snob? Do you pick your friends and dates based on their levels of education, their occupation, the type of car they drive, the area they live in? Do you even know you do it?
Does it matter to you what your friends do for a living and where they went to school? Do you find that your social groups, if you have them, tend to be with similar "types" of people? Would you prefer not to date someone who has no college degree because you dont feel you would have anything in common with them?
In these days of chronic recession, it is amazing how many of us are employed in positions of "lesser" social status that normal; many are forced to do what they have to to pay the bills, so it is increasingly difficult to guage who has the better education - the local mailman or the guy in City Hall.
Robert Green Ingersoll once said:
"“It is a thousand times better to have common sense without education than to have education without common sense.”
How true.
Additionally credit card debt is out of control: and many sufferers of credit card debt are in that situation because of "trying to keep up with the Jonses'" - buying things that will give the impression of wealth and status, like nice clothes, a nice car outside, etc etc.
In a so-called "Classless Society", after listening to others, reading articles and forming my own opinions, it appears to me that snobbery still runs riot in the world, whether it be toward lesser-educated, lesser-financially well off or those who live on "The Wrong Side of the Tracks".
Bodecia Forum Posts (1,476)
Yes, feeling much better now, thank you.
Social Snobbery
Very true.Money dont keep you warm at night.