Maybe country people are no class. We generally have a “sittin’” room with no TV in it. The family room OTOH has the good TV sitting on top of the old one.
America is a large and heterogeneous country, and what’s true in one location is not always true elsewhere.
I’m gonna have to see a cite for somebody other than Newt Gingrich, who is upper class, who is called “Newt”.
Nothing new. Scarlett O’Hara’s mother was worried about her tanning because she wouldn’t wear her big floppy hat.
Even though that might be true (the attached list claims that it is 14th) if you travel to West Africa,parts of the Caribbean and the countries which border France, you’ll be able to communicate with people if you are able to converse in French. Many well-educated people around who may not speak English will almost certainly be able to speak French
Also, of the list’s 13 more widely spoken languages, at least 8 are so limited that they are useless outside of their native lands (for example being fluent in Bengali or Javanese is of very limited utility outside of Asia or even their respective regions.)
Reference:
I exaggerated when I said “useless”. The hurt tone of some of the responses led me to try to think of a way to get some data on the question of studying French. Nothing soothes a wound like throwing some cold data up in it.
I came up with going to Monster.com, a US-based job search site. Obviously, I’m not going to get a conclusive answer with this approach, but I’m just trying to see how easy it is to find evidence to back my assumption that French language skills are not the most in demand.
As expected, it’s not.
“french-speaking” 318 hits.
“mandarin-speaking” 432 hits.
“spanish-speaking” 1000+ hits, because that’s where the needle gets stuck.
So, as everybody already pointed out, learning French is not completely useless, it’s just-- apparently-- less than one third as useful at getting a job in the US as learning Spanish.
Could be worse. A check of an Aussie site, seek.com, turned up 10 hits for “french-speaking”. That’s nationally.
Special thanks to nevadexile, who felt the need to provide evidence that French is, indeed, not a top 10 language.
I think I’d better stop before I do something really dumb, like offer an opinion on the utility of getting an MFA. On the bright side, if I did do that, I bet the dozen or so annoyed justifications for getting one would be exquisitely written.
Well yeah. Nobody is surprised that French does not lead to as many jobs as the de facto second (and in the west, often first) language of the US. But you didn’t say that French is less useful in the US than Spanish. You said French is worthless and people take it only for the prestige.
As I heard it, Tattoos / (Teeth + Toes). The higher the number, the lower the class (and the greater the likelihood of meth use).
I would argue that worrying about having to do things or learn things based on their likelihood of landing a job are a strong indicator of class. Upper classes don’t need to worry about the practicality of learning French or studying some esoteric liberal arts degree. They get to live off trust funds or inherit family businesses. At worst some family connection might be able to hook them up with a job with a prestigious company.
Not Bluetooth: Apple seizes the steering wheel with CarPlay - CSMonitor.com
When financial independence is intergenerational, it starts to be a strong indicator of class - especially third generation and beyond. The people I know with family money were free to get PhDs in Art History without worrying about getting a job (and yet, when the Monet in the museum used to be Grandpa’s before he donated it in his will and Aunt Pat has sat on the board for years, Cousin Bob is a trustee at a university - somehow, a job comes along).
Reading. All the poor people I know don’t read or limit it to their Bibles.
Newspaper subscriptions. Only 17% of households here in SA subscribe to the local newspaper, these subscribers overwhelmingly located in the more wealthy parts of the city.
Attitude towards, and handling of, money (like Dangerosa said.)
To be fair, they read the supermarket tabloids, too. But I’m sure there are many library patrons and readers of novels among the lower classes as well.
There was the little girl in “Aliens.” Her hair was in pretty bad shape, so I think we can assume low class.
I’m unsure how “ability to survive an infestation of acid-blooded xenomorphs” acts as a class indicator, though.
I think the Harry Potter and Twilight phenomena of the past decade have actually fed into this, putting books in the hands of millions of people who had not read a book since high school, and might never have read for recreation in their lives. When I meet an adult whose favorite books are all YA fiction, I quickly make some (probably unfair in some cases) judgments about them.
There is something floating around that goes something like this and breaks people down into basic economic classes…
The poor plan for today…bus fare, groceries, making rent
The middle class plan for later…college, retirement.
The upper class plan for their grandchildren…trusts
And it isn’t just about your economic reality, its also about how you think about money. There are plenty of people with middle class incomes who think like poor people because they spend what they earn (or more), and therefore are always planning for today - there isn’t an economic tomorrow (other than winning the lottery or inheriting money) to plan for.
Wearing anything with an energy drink logo on it.
I have known some very very poor people and some very very rich people.
Between pet sitting and delivering newspapers I got to know quite a few people who live in the 21056 zip code. These people don’t just have money, they reek of money. For most of the residents these are just their summer homes.
There are quite a few famous last names on the island, there are also a few (not using his real name) Billie Bob Fishpaws.
When it’s reported that the cheapest house on the island is more than a $1,000,000. you are talking barely more than shack that is not on the water. One house where I pet sat didn’t even have a full bath, the house was tiny, one bedroom, galley kitchen, small living room, decent dining room.
You will see everything from rusting out Fords and Chevys to Jags and Rolls. You will see people dressed in the latest and best designer clothes to people who look like they shop at WalMart. Some of the residents were extremely friendly, even inviting me in for tea and others were total snots. One wife used to look at me and apologize behind her husbands back because he was so rude. Some of them were quite generous with tips, others were very cheap. I was chastised (although nicely) by resident because I was tossing the paper at the front door instead of the maid’s door. Who knew? He was a retired doctor who saw the soda in my truck and then chastised me for that. Nice man but he had that air about him that only the uber rich have.
The island has it’s own church, it’s own school, it’s own police force.
Non residents don’t get on the island unless they have a good reason. When construction workers would see me coming, they had no idea I wasn’t a resident and they ran, not walked but ran to get any equipment that may be blocking the road. The island’s trash truck was not a normal trash truck, it had a door that was opened to put the trash in and then immediately closed. No trash smells allowed on the island. The residents don’t drag their trash to the curb either, the trash man runs up their driveway to get the cans, dumps them, and the returns them, upright with the lids on.
There is no sign of work anywhere, even the landscape/construction workers seemed to be invisible as they went about their jobs.
What I came to say though is if you think they upper crust are any less racist, sexist, prejudiced, religious, judgmental, etc. than the lower classes you’d be wrong. They may be more subtle but it’s still there.
They do have a sense of entitlement, they don’t have a clear understanding of how the other half lives, but overall they aren’t any different than the other classes other than they have more money.
If you think all lower class people are more racist, sexist, prejudiced, religious, judgmental, etc, you’d be wrong. They do tend to be a little less subtle about it but some of the most loving, accepting, generous people I know are incredibly poor.
College degrees. This separates the poor from the middle class and the rich. When my kids ask me why they cannot get the same things as our better-off neighbors, I tell them because we did not go to college, and I believe that 100%. I always drill it into them that they need to go to college.
I have lived in less than great neighborhoods all of my life.
I now live in a good part of a bad city. I believe most of my neighbors are lower middle class.
I am not sure what class I would fit into. I have a good job, a very tiny row house, and a used car. We can afford to take a pretty nice vacation every year. However, I have absolutely no savings, and live paycheck to paycheck.
Some things I notice about lower class people: They get sucked in by name brands. Every woman will have at least one designer bag, even if living in public housing. Also Uggs. People believe these up your status. Also, you really need a North Face jacket. If you do not have one of these 3 things, you are the poorest of the poor, if that even makes sense. I actually sorry a man asking for change the other day, with a cardboard sign, wearing a North Face. 
Crazy, sad world we live in.
I’d never heard of Ugg or North Face. I must be in the top one per cent!