# Do you picture rich people as fat and poor people as thin, or vice versa? And your culture? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 1, 2012, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-picture-rich-people-as-fat-and-poor-people-as-thin-or-vice-versa-and-your-culture/608010 "2012-01-01T03:04:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-picture-rich-people-as-fat-and-poor-people-as-thin-or-vice-versa-and-your-culture/608010/21 "2012-01-02T13:48:35Z")
European here, and I associate fat people with poor and rich people with normal looks (not anorexic-thin). Morbidly obese I associate with Americans. But that’s because I’ve read several studies that link indeed unhealthy lifestyle (starchy, sugary, fatty foods, pre-made foods and to-go-foods are all cheaper than veggies) with lower education = general the poor population (despite the growth of the chasm because more and more middle-class people fall into poverty income - but they still have the knowledge that the chronically poor lack). Whereas rich people (really rich, not just middle-class) not only generally have the knowledge, they can afford personal trainer (middle-class: sports club, poor people: free sports) and eating out at healthy (organic veggie) restaurants (middle-class: cook at home; poor people: McD). ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-picture-rich-people-as-fat-and-poor-people-as-thin-or-vice-versa-and-your-culture/608010/22 "2012-01-02T14:07:00Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > Crafter\_Man, do you have any speculation whether the referenced people you come across are fat and lazy because they’re poor, or poor because they’re fat and lazy, or both things because of some other cause? The direction of causality is always tricky. Sometimes we get it backwards. Sometimes there’s a confounding variable (a.k.a. lurking variable). Generally speaking, a person who is lazy has a greater chance of being poor than a person who is motivated and hard working; they have a harder time staying employed, and thus end up poor. By the same token, a person who is lazy tends to sit around a lot, overeat, is unmotivated, and does not really care what people think of them. In other words, the lurking variable is laziness, which causes poverty and obesity. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-picture-rich-people-as-fat-and-poor-people-as-thin-or-vice-versa-and-your-culture/608010/23 "2012-01-02T16:15:14Z")
Depends on how thin you’re talking. Slim/fit, or emaciated? The former I associate more with wealth than poverty; the latter the opposite. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-picture-rich-people-as-fat-and-poor-people-as-thin-or-vice-versa-and-your-culture/608010/24 "2012-01-02T16:44:11Z")
It isn’t a question of picturing. Go to a working class shopping mall - fat people everywhere. Go to an upper middle class shopping mall - find a fat person. ---
**Author:** ![MoodIndigo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@MoodIndigo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoodIndigo1)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-picture-rich-people-as-fat-and-poor-people-as-thin-or-vice-versa-and-your-culture/608010/25 "2012-01-02T17:38:57Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > I voted Canada or US/Poor Fat - Rich Thin - but I wouldn’t say I picture poor people as fat, exactly; more that I associate obesity with the lower economic classes. > > In spite of that, when I was dirt-poor, I was shockingly thin. Same here. Now that I’m no longer struggling to feed myself, I gained (ahem) a few pounds. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-picture-rich-people-as-fat-and-poor-people-as-thin-or-vice-versa-and-your-culture/608010/26 "2012-01-02T17:50:21Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > Depends on how thin you’re talking. Slim/fit, or emaciated? The former I associate more with wealth than poverty; the latter the opposite. I mostly associate emaciated with drug use, so it could be a rich person or someone coming by their drug money through criminal means. At any rate, I generally associate morbid obesity with lower-to-middle class and being really fit with either the wealthy who have time to spend in the gym or people who work hard for a living. ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2012, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-picture-rich-people-as-fat-and-poor-people-as-thin-or-vice-versa-and-your-culture/608010/27 "2012-01-02T18:12:54Z")
I live in Canada. I voted number two. However, I look a lot poorer than I actually am. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-picture-rich-people-as-fat-and-poor-people-as-thin-or-vice-versa-and-your-culture/608010/28 "2012-01-03T02:42:23Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > The direction of causality is always tricky. Sometimes we get it backwards. Sometimes there’s a confounding variable (a.k.a. lurking variable). > > Generally speaking, a person who is lazy has a greater chance of being poor than a person who is motivated and hard working; they have a harder time staying employed, and thus end up poor. By the same token, a person who is lazy tends to sit around a lot, overeat, is unmotivated, and does not really care what people think of them. > > In other words, the lurking variable is laziness, which causes poverty and obesity. And yet, I’ve never met a lazy poor person, at least in the sense of what they do on the job. The only thing I’ve seen is tired poor people because they work two eight hour jobs. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-picture-rich-people-as-fat-and-poor-people-as-thin-or-vice-versa-and-your-culture/608010/29 "2012-01-03T03:24:39Z")
I associate “rich” people as being very thin. They care about their appearance and have the time to work on it. I’m not even talking about actors or celebrities. I’m thinking of Wall Street types, lawyers and executives. The middle classes I tend to think of as heavier. The paunchy middle manager or IT guy or salesman with the cheap suit. Not “obese” per se, but just sort of really out of shape from working 70 hours a week and eating airport food. I tend to associate very obese with the poor and working classes. No time or inclination to worry about fitness. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-picture-rich-people-as-fat-and-poor-people-as-thin-or-vice-versa-and-your-culture/608010/30 "2012-01-03T03:25:49Z")
“Rich thin, poor fat”. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-picture-rich-people-as-fat-and-poor-people-as-thin-or-vice-versa-and-your-culture/608010/31 "2012-01-03T04:21:33Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I tend to associate pleasantly plump men as being well-to-do, and very skinny men with poverty. Skinny/average men and women are also well-to-do. > > Fat men and fat and obese women are working-class or poor. > > Obese men and very obese women are poor. My thoughts exactly. Also, in the poll, I put “other” because I don’t know how to read and missed that U.S. came after Canada. ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-picture-rich-people-as-fat-and-poor-people-as-thin-or-vice-versa-and-your-culture/608010/32 "2012-01-04T02:16:03Z")
USA. Rich thin, poor fat. When you’re rich you can afford to hire people to cook for you and walk you 😉 Since they don’t have to work they have more time to sit around primping and worrying about their appearance all day. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-picture-rich-people-as-fat-and-poor-people-as-thin-or-vice-versa-and-your-culture/608010/33 "2012-01-04T19:19:43Z")
Tanned ! ---
**Author:** ![nikonikosuru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f8ce5/32.png) [@nikonikosuru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nikonikosuru)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-picture-rich-people-as-fat-and-poor-people-as-thin-or-vice-versa-and-your-culture/608010/34 "2012-01-04T19:25:02Z")
Born and raised in the midwest. I always grew up with the prejudice that: rich = fit/thin middle = anywhere from fit to overweight poor = overweight/obese OR unheathily skinny due to substance abuse. Working in a grocery store in a bad part of town for over a year only helped to cement that belief. There were very few customers that defied my prejudices (I’ll admit, they are my prejudices.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-picture-rich-people-as-fat-and-poor-people-as-thin-or-vice-versa-and-your-culture/608010.md?page=1)