These are the words that mark you out as posh in 2024 — and they’re not what you think

The UK is location to an array of accents and dialects, but nary are rather arsenic conspicuous (given our class-obsessed society) arsenic the posh ones.

It’s casual for astir to archer whether you’re ‘old money’ based connected however you speak; cipher would confuse the King’s English to cockney drawl, for example.

According to experts though, the scope of vocabulary is besides a cardinal origin successful giving distant person’s societal standing.

In Kate Fox’s 2014 champion seller, Watching the English, the societal anthropologist claims 1 connection you whitethorn announcement the precocious mediate people utilizing much than others is the word ‘sofa’.

Another fashionable prime for the precocious echelons is ‘beastly’, portion Britain’s good heeled are besides known to picture rugby arsenic ‘rugger’ successful conversation.

Things are changing though, and the words that erstwhile made the chopped arsenic posh are adapting to much caller times, arsenic are the ones that suggest you’re thing but.

So what are they and however are they determined? We’ve got each the answers.

How are ‘posh’ words determined?

In the 1950s, Professor Alan Ross of linguistics at the University of Birmingham wrote a insubstantial claiming helium had discovered certain differences betwixt England’s precocious people and the different classes.

Listing pronunciation, grammar and usage of circumstantial words arsenic contributing behaviours, Ross’s findings were not based connected probe but his ain beliefs – besides known arsenic armchair linguistics.

Despite being referenced regularly to this day, determination person been fewer precise information checks connected the words Ross claimed were precocious class, which included loo, napkin and sofa. Until now.

A caller survey conducted by George Bailey and Eddie O’Hara Brown compared the expected upper-class words with their assumed non-upper-class counterparts – toilet, serviette, and settee – successful a survey with 80 participants of antithetic ages, genders and societal classes.

Asking participants to usage the words successful a condemnation portion they were focused connected a task, similar describing a representation of the item, successful an effort to analyse their earthy usage, the academics made immoderate astonishing discoveries.

What posh words person changed?

Bailey and O’Hara Brown’s research recovered that napkin and sofa, erstwhile ‘upper-class’ words, were the astir commonly utilized presumption among the lawsuit studies, arsenic was the assumed non-upper-class connection toilet.

They noted that 72 participants utilized the connection napkin compared to 18 who utilized serviette, frankincense challenging Ross’s claims. They ruled that if a connection is of communal usage, it ‘cannot beryllium a reliable indicator of precocious classness.’

Some words, however, were little of a clean-cut ruling. Loo for illustration was astir apt to beryllium utilized by older subjects participating successful the study, careless of class, arsenic were the words serviette and settee.

What words are assumed to beryllium posh?

A 2nd study, conducted by the aforesaid experts, focused connected its 100 participants’ opinions arsenic well, asking whether they believed definite words are utilized by radical who are perceived to beryllium of higher societal standing.

To punctual their opinions, they asked subjects to look astatine assorted social media posts and find the writer’s class. The subjects were past divided into 2 groups, with each station featuring a stereotypically ‘posh’ enactment and a ‘not truthful posh’ alternative.

One station read: ‘My flatmate went to a wedding and I brought takeaway, was astir done eating earlier I saw thing that looks similar a fried egg, enactment it successful my rima and it was a napkin/serviette. God wherefore me!?’

It seems cognition varies from idiosyncratic to person, arsenic participants of the higher socioeconomic radical noted that sofa sounded much posh, portion those successful the little socioeconomic radical said settee was.

As for toilet and loo, they were regarded arsenic the aforesaid presumption socially, portion serviette was thought to beryllium much posh than napkin.

Overall, the survey recovered that portion they person seen immoderate changes since Ross’s archetypal findings, determination are inactive ‘class-based vocabulary markers successful modern British English,’ and that ‘class-based accent and dialect favoritism are unluckily inactive live and well.’

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