Social:U word

U and non-U English usage, with "U" standing for "upper class", and "non-U" representing the aspiring middle classes, was part of the terminology of popular discourse of social dialects (sociolects) in Britain in the 1950s. The different vocabularies can often appear quite counter-intuitive: the middle classes prefer "fancy" or fashionable words, even neologisms and often euphemisms, in attempts to make themselves sound more refined ("posher than posh"), while the upper classes in many cases stick to the same plain and traditional words that the working classes also use, as, confident in the security of their social position, they have no need to seek to display refinement. The concept originated with a linguist, Alan S. C. Ross, but was popularised by writer Nancy Mitford. Ross covered various aspects of language, while Mitford concentrated on vocabulary, asserting that "scent", "graveyard" and "spectacles" were "U" words, while "perfume", "cemetery" and "glasses" were non-U. The response of the class-conscious British public to Mitford's essay was enough to encourage her publisher to commission a book, Noblesse Oblige: An Enquiry Into the Identifiable Characteristics of the English Aristocracy (1956).

See also

• Social class in the United Kingdom