Alan S. C. Ross

An Enquiry Into the Identifiable Characteristics of the English Aristocracy

Noblesse Oblige

Rose Stanley

After reading this, I can only conclude that, despite my vocabulary containing a mix of U and non-U terms, I am definitely too middle class to understand the British upper class.


PS: On this note, it seems Bridget Jones' mother was solidly non-U. I always suspected as much.
PPS: Were this book written today, I suspect it would include a How U Are You quiz at the end.

Alan Strode Campbell Ross

The Great U and Non-U DebateUntil Nancy Mitford wrote 'The English Aristocracy' in 1955, England was blissfully unconscious of U-Usage and its lethal implications. The phenomenon of 'Upper-Class English Usage' had, it is true, already been remarked upon by Professor Alan Ross who, in an academic paper printed in Helsinki ayear earlier, claimed that the upper classes now distinguished solely by their use of language, but it was the Honourable Mrs. Peter Rodd (as she was addressed by U-speaker Evelyn Waugh, Esq.) who first let the cat out of the bag. Her article sparked off a public debate joined vigorously by EvelynWaugh, 'Strix', and Christopher Sykes, whose counterblasts are collected here. Osbert Lancaster, caricaturist of English manners, takes the debate into the visual dimension, and John Betjeman poeticizes on the theme with characteristic charm:Phone for the fish-knives NormanAs Cook is a little unnerved;You kiddies have crumpled the serviettes And I must have things daintily served. A new introduction by Ned Sherrin reveals more of the articles and correspondences that were generated by the debate, in his inimitably entertaining fashion.

Noblesse Oblige An Enquiry Into the Identifiable Characteristics of the English Aristocracy