If you are a bit of a social climber, you might want to brush up on what words you really should be avoiding if you want people to think you are posher than you really are.
Words matter, people. You may dress the part and heck; even have the accent too, but did you know that your actual vocabulary also speaks volumes about your social position too?
Yup, that’s right. According to a social anthropologist and author of Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behavior, Kate Fox, there are certain words that are making you sound really common – and what they are might surprise you a little.
For instance, you would never ever hear the Duchess of Cambridge claim she is heading into her “living room.” Or certainly not to the “toilet.”
But there are more, guys. Here are the nine words you desperately need to avoid if you are hoping to come off as being super posh:
1. Toilet
This is one a big one – don’t ever refer to this room as “toilet” or even “gents”, “ladies” “bathroom” or “powder room”. Nope. What you need to say if you need to go is either “loo” or “lavatory.”
2. Posh
This one is a little ironic, of course, but an actual upper-class person would never refer to themselves as being “posh,” according to Fox.
3. Living room
You will never find Will and Kate relaxing in their “living room,” guys. Nope, they are always putting their feet up in their drawing room or – at a push – sitting room.
4. Couch
This one should go without saying, but a blue-blooded person would never sit down on a couch – or worse, setee. They always, always sit on a sofa.
5. Mum and dad
Bye-bye “mum” and “dad!” If you want to do like the upper classes, you need to refer to your parents as “mummy and daddy” – sort of like Prince Charles when he dubbed the Queen of England “mummy” in a speech in honour of her Diamond Jubilee.
6. Perfume
A posh person wears a “scent,” not perfume.
7. Pardon
If Prince William doesn’t quite catch what someone says, he will always opt for “what” or possibly “sorry” – never “pardon.”
8. Portions
Whatever you so, don’t ask for another “portion” of something if you want people to think of you as posh. Nope, you need to refer to it as a “helping” – as in; “could I please get another helping of potatoes?”
9. Tea
Don’t worry, you can still talk about drinking tea, but when you are sitting down to an evening meal, if you are moving in royal circles, you call it “dinner” – or possibly “supper,” but never “tea.”
