Do you speak elegant English? No matter if you are upper class or not, it is whether people use speaking and writing language correctly and elegantly. The Queen's English is elegant English. Some might say that Her Majesty was a person of a certain age and a certain level of class, but in fact, nowadays this is less important than it used to be. She was more of a linguistic snob. For example, she did not say Posh since this is not an elegant word. (Posh is an acronym: P.O.S.H. - port out, starboard home.)
A good resource is the classic film My Fair Lady made from the play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. In 1912 he wrote this in preface: It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishmen hate or despise him.
Later Professor Alan S.C. Ross published his famous U(upper-class) and non-U: an essay on sociological linguistics. This was a 40-year gap but it seemed not much had changed. He said: It is solely by its language that the English upper class is clearly marked off from the others.
However, language and class distinctions have evolved and changed over the last 50 years. Below are some interesting examples of the use of words.
U Words Non-U Words
Bike or bicycle Cycle
Dinner jacket Dress suit
Vegetable Greens
Ice Ice cream
Scent Perfume
Ill (in bed) Sick (in bed)
Graveyard Cemetery
Spectacles Glasses
False teeth Dentures
Mad Mental
Jam Preserve
Napkin Serviette
Sofa Settee or couch
Lavatory or loo Toilet
Good health Cheers
Pudding Sweet
Drawing-room Lounge
looking-glass Mirror
Writing-paper Note-paper
How d'you do? Pleased to meet you
Wireless Radio
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