I vaguely remember hearing the term Well-Bred in some old movie. I think it might have been a BBC type thing.
My question is, what does the term really mean? Is it the same as “high class” or “noble”, or “gentleman/lady”?
Is it still used in the UK?
Is the use in UK or US socially acceptable?
If a turtleneck wearing beatnik type city dweller drives by a rural walmart and sees some overall jeans wearing hillbillies filling up their rusty pick up truck with 100 gallons of pickles, and the city slicker points to his Gucci-pursed girlfriend and says, “Those people are not well-bred”, is this an accurate depiction, or just, as they say, pretentious uppity-city slicker nonsense?
Well-bred just means that someone behaves with dignity and etiquette.
There shouldn’t be anything wrong with saying it in the US. In your scene, the turtlenecked city dweller would be saying “those people are being rude” so it doesn’t really fit. Don’t know about the UK.
The implication, however, is that they do so because they were born to a part of society where such behavior is the norm (or at least taught and rewarded). The opposite would be “ill-bred”, referring, of course, to those not born to wealth and taste, and thus ignorant of “proper” behavior. NOCD (“Not our class, dear”).
In the US, I think it would often be regarded as classist and pretentious–not to mention archaic. It might depend on the region and the age of the speaker to some extent, however. I don’t believe I’ve ever heard anyone use either “well-bred” or “ill-bred” seriously in real life.
I have, but only well-bred. It’s a chide against children who are not behaving themselves in a dignified way (“Let’s behave like the well-bred young men and ladies we are” + glare) and basically means well-mannered.
I agree with this. But I should say to the OP that it isn’t a phrase you’d casually drop into conversation unless you were trying to be a bit sarcastic or jokingly pompous. (that’s in the UK, that is).