# PBS game- what social class are you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 18, 2007, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-game-what-social-class-are-you/430474 "2007-12-18T18:17:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-game-what-social-class-are-you/430474/21 "2007-12-18T19:37:44Z")
I actually _have_ an original artwork by a recognized artist, so I actually got to pick that one! (But it’s in my bedroom. But it would also be my wall hanging of choice, since collectable ducks aren’t my kind of kitsch.) But the Gun Rack (again, better than the rest of the choices,) and pit bull (I’d rather have a cat, but if I had to get a dog might as well get a strong one,) dragged me down to an unrecognizable mishmash. ---
**Author:** ![Kuboydal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@Kuboydal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuboydal)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-game-what-social-class-are-you/430474/22 "2007-12-18T19:41:21Z")
If the artwork by unknown artists were available, it would change things. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-game-what-social-class-are-you/430474/23 "2007-12-18T19:45:03Z")
[QUOTE=Beadalin] I’m Old Money, dahlings. Of course, I was picking things I’d _like_ to have, but in many cases couldn’t afford in a million years. [/QUOTE] I think that’s what you’re supposed to do, isn’t it? Not put in what you actually have, but what you would have if you could. At least, that’s how I took it. ---
**Author:** ![Kuboydal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@Kuboydal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuboydal)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-game-what-social-class-are-you/430474/24 "2007-12-18T19:48:01Z")
in my case, the corduroy reclined is what I had, sigh. Both something that one would haul back from the dump and nice place for Bowser to sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-game-what-social-class-are-you/430474/25 "2007-12-18T19:52:33Z")
[QUOTE=Sarahfeena] I think that’s what you’re supposed to do, isn’t it? Not put in what you actually have, but what you would have if you could. [/QUOTE] That’s what I did. ---
**Author:** ![Sublata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7cd45c/32.png) [@Sublata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublata)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-game-what-social-class-are-you/430474/26 "2007-12-18T19:55:11Z")
[QUOTE=GingerOfTheNorth] I’m old money, which is goddamned hilarious. My grandparents were dirt poor. [/QUOTE] Same here. But my dear mama always said I had “champagne taste and a beer budget,” don’t you know. ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-game-what-social-class-are-you/430474/27 "2007-12-18T19:55:38Z")
I got middle middle, which is pretty accurate, I guess, based on what’s in my family’s house. (I still live with my parents.) But many choices were hard because we actually have a lot of stuff from different categories. I guess if I had been allowed to choose everything we have, we would have turned out a cross between middle and old money–which I guess is accurate since my grandparents were wealthier than we are, and some of my great-grandparents were very rich–but of course, in their day, many of those wealthy ancestors would have been considered nouveau riche. What we don’t have is much working-class stuff or fancy new electronics. ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-game-what-social-class-are-you/430474/28 "2007-12-18T19:57:21Z")
Pit bulls are NOT trailer park. 🙂 I disagree with the entire dog category. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-game-what-social-class-are-you/430474/29 "2007-12-18T19:58:58Z")
Old money, with some downmarket tastes. Okay, so I have an aquarium with tropical fish in my living room, so what? I actually have NO money and the shabby stuff is all handed down–except the aquarium. As for dogs, I’ve had mutts. And now I have cats. But apparently I made the right choice on the dog (the biggest one I could see). ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-game-what-social-class-are-you/430474/30 "2007-12-18T20:01:03Z")
[QUOTE=Sarahfeena] I think that’s what you’re supposed to do, isn’t it? Not put in what you actually have, but what you would have if you could. At least, that’s how I took it. [/QUOTE] Of course, the problem with that is figuring out what you would have if you could. Partly this is because I have limited style sense, and partly this is because some of their options were so goofy. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-game-what-social-class-are-you/430474/31 "2007-12-18T20:05:50Z")
[QUOTE=Eureka] Of course, the problem with that is figuring out what you would have if you could. Partly this is because I have limited style sense, and partly this is because some of their options were so goofy. [/QUOTE] True…I wouldn’t have gone for any of their furninture options, for instance. Had to pick the closest thing. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-game-what-social-class-are-you/430474/32 "2007-12-18T20:10:37Z")
4 nouveau riche, 2 middle class, one working class. Apparently I’m trying too hard. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-game-what-social-class-are-you/430474/33 "2007-12-18T20:16:03Z")
I was born middle, but my style is old money. I have a ham sandwich with mayonaise waiting for me at my mansion. ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-game-what-social-class-are-you/430474/34 "2007-12-18T20:21:32Z")
Apparently liking electric toys is nouveau riche (Hey, I read to…I just keep the books in the bedroom) but I also had things from a few other classes. I wish they’d had a cat in with the dog choices. I’m not a dog person, and there were too many large breeds–nothing really fit, and only the toy poodle came close. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-game-what-social-class-are-you/430474/35 "2007-12-18T20:29:38Z")
Mostly middle middle, but apparently also old money and nouveau riche at the same time. Huh. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-game-what-social-class-are-you/430474/36 "2007-12-18T20:33:33Z")
Old Money, but my room looked like shit, so lunch will be at the country club with **Beadalin** , **Ginger** , **cher3** , **Sarahfeena** and any other People Like Us™ I missed. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-game-what-social-class-are-you/430474/37 "2007-12-18T20:35:55Z")
Not a very good version of this game because the choices are too limited. For example, I don’t have best sellers in my living room, but I do have antique books. Those aren’t the same thing, nor are they antique decoys. Similarly, I have no dog, and will never have a dog unless I go blind, but if I did have a dog, it would be a rescue greyhound like my family had when I was growing up. There’s a more extensive quiz in the back of [Class: A Guide through the American Status System](http://www.amazon.com/Class-Through-American-Status-System/dp/0671792253/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198009501&sr=1-1) that we’ve found more accurate when used as a party game. However, none that I’ve seen does a very good job once you throw “student” or social activism into the mix, or accounts well for cultural variations even in the U.S. All writers of these books (e.g., [Bobos in Paradise](http://www.amazon.com/Bobos-Paradise-Upper-Class-There/dp/0684853787/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198009870&sr=8-2)) see themselves as able to step outside the taxonomy, so they’re always covertly praising their own choices in wine, music, or decor. ---
**Author:** ![kellner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c2a13f/32.png) [@kellner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kellner)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-game-what-social-class-are-you/430474/38 "2007-12-18T20:46:11Z")
Middle middle class. Given the limited choices that seems OK. There are a few judgments that I would dispute but I’m not sure whether those are simply cultural differences. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-game-what-social-class-are-you/430474/39 "2007-12-18T20:46:43Z")
For those of you who have a sign-in for the New York Times (and if you don’t- _sniff,_ how _common_😉 ), you may find it interesting to compare your class from Chintz or Shag to your class from [this calculator](http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/national/20050515_CLASS_GRAPHIC/index_01.html). I come out as top fifth in those. You wouldn’t know to look at me (or, evidently, my taste in furniture). ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2007, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-game-what-social-class-are-you/430474/40 "2007-12-18T21:04:38Z")
[QUOTE=Beadalin] I’m Old Money, dahlings. Of course, I was picking things I’d _like_ to have, but in many cases couldn’t afford in a million years. [/QUOTE] Ditto. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-game-what-social-class-are-you/430474.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-game-what-social-class-are-you/430474.md?page=3)