1
00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:03,900
Hey everyone, and welcome to 
another episode of the 

2
00:00:03,900 --> 00:00:08,600
understandable English podcast. 
I'm Oliver. 

3
00:00:08,600 --> 00:00:13,500
And today, we are going to be 
talking about the British class 

4
00:00:13,700 --> 00:00:18,300
system. 
So what is a class system? 

5
00:00:18,900 --> 00:00:24,000
A class system is a phenomenon 
or something, which a cure 

6
00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:29,400
occurs as separating different 
categories or groups of people 

7
00:00:29,400 --> 00:00:34,600
within In a society, this can be
the way people behave. 

8
00:00:34,700 --> 00:00:40,000
It can be based on their income.
So how much money they earn and 

9
00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:46,500
also other aspects of their life
often these class systems come 

10
00:00:46,500 --> 00:00:51,800
from the time periods in 
history, when there were clear 

11
00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:57,600
separation between Kings and the
working people. 

12
00:00:57,900 --> 00:01:02,700
So, there was the wealthy Or 
very rich people, the people in 

13
00:01:02,700 --> 00:01:07,700
the middle and perhaps the 
people who did a lot of the 

14
00:01:07,700 --> 00:01:11,800
manual work. 
So work in the fields or 

15
00:01:11,800 --> 00:01:15,800
factories. 
And in many cases, in many 

16
00:01:15,800 --> 00:01:19,800
different countries, these 
classes them's, still to an 

17
00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:26,600
extent exist today. 
The UK is no exception and in 

18
00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:30,800
fact it is one of the most 
divided country Countries in 

19
00:01:30,800 --> 00:01:36,700
many ways by class in the world.
Of course these categories. 

20
00:01:36,700 --> 00:01:41,400
And separations are not as 
important as they once used to 

21
00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:48,200
be, but if you travel or live in
the UK for a long time, you will

22
00:01:48,200 --> 00:01:53,100
start to notice some clear 
differences between groups of 

23
00:01:53,100 --> 00:01:58,700
people within Society. 
We can simply categorize Society

24
00:01:58,700 --> 00:02:06,100
into Man classes, the working 
class the middle class and the 

25
00:02:06,100 --> 00:02:09,400
upper class. 
But there are much more 

26
00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:14,900
complicated and specific ways to
separate these groups as well. 

27
00:02:15,500 --> 00:02:20,500
But for Simplicity and to 
explain today, some of the 

28
00:02:20,500 --> 00:02:25,200
differences we are going to just
use those free simple 

29
00:02:25,300 --> 00:02:29,500
categories. 
The upper class is seen as the 

30
00:02:29,500 --> 00:02:32,200
rich. 
Gist most wealthy and most 

31
00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:35,400
comfortable people within the 
UK. 

32
00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:40,400
They might have a lot of money 
from their parents and their 

33
00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:44,600
grandparents passed down through
generations. 

34
00:02:45,300 --> 00:02:51,200
Often they do a variety of 
cultural activities like going 

35
00:02:51,200 --> 00:02:55,800
to the theater ballet. 
I am and lots of other things 

36
00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:59,800
which in the past would have 
been associated. 

37
00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:06,400
If wealthy and rich people, this
group of people, often own their

38
00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:10,600
own property. 
In the vast, majority of cases, 

39
00:03:11,100 --> 00:03:16,000
they might even have multiple 
houses, they could be land 

40
00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:19,900
owners. 
So they own their own land, a 

41
00:03:19,900 --> 00:03:25,100
more other houses, which they 
rent or allow people to live in.

42
00:03:25,200 --> 00:03:30,800
For money, the middle class can 
be categorized by, Why are 

43
00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:33,600
people who have a high level of 
income? 

44
00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:36,800
So, they have Financial 
Security. 

45
00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:42,200
It means they aren't really 
worrying about money for the 

46
00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:46,200
most part. 
These people also own their own 

47
00:03:46,200 --> 00:03:53,500
houses or property, but a lot 
less than the upper class often.

48
00:03:53,500 --> 00:03:57,900
They won't be landlords or 
renting property to other 

49
00:03:57,900 --> 00:04:01,200
people. 
And finally, The working class 

50
00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:05,600
is seen as people with the 
lowest level of income or 

51
00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:12,000
salaries in the UK often, they 
will do jobs, which require 

52
00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:16,300
manual labor, for example, 
working in a factory. 

53
00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:21,300
But, of course, as times have 
changed, this can be seen as, 

54
00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:27,500
you know, basic office jobs or 
jobs, which don't require a 

55
00:04:27,500 --> 00:04:32,800
higher level of Education. 
Of course, there is a lot of in 

56
00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:38,200
between, with these categories. 
That's just a simple explanation

57
00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:41,400
of what, some of the differences
might be. 

58
00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:46,300
But today, I want of the things 
I would like to focus on and 

59
00:04:46,300 --> 00:04:51,200
talk about is how language 
changes between these two 

60
00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:55,100
groups. 
And this is where the old 

61
00:04:55,100 --> 00:04:59,800
British class system is still 
very clear even today. 

62
00:04:59,900 --> 00:05:04,800
In 2022. 
It is clear from things, such as

63
00:05:04,900 --> 00:05:10,800
accent, Soho people, speak 
people from higher classes, tend

64
00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:15,500
to prefer certain signs. 
When pronouncing words, they 

65
00:05:15,500 --> 00:05:21,400
have more of a specific accent. 
And in the past, this was often 

66
00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:28,400
associated with RP, accent 
pronunced pronunciation or as 

67
00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:31,700
some people call it The queen's 
English. 

68
00:05:32,300 --> 00:05:38,200
It is the kind of accent that 
you might often hear on BBC News

69
00:05:38,600 --> 00:05:44,900
or in Parliament from, for 
example, a prime minister or 

70
00:05:45,300 --> 00:05:51,000
members of parliament MPS 
politicians, like a lot of the 

71
00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:53,800
wealth and the upper class in 
the UK. 

72
00:05:54,100 --> 00:05:59,700
It is heavily concentrated or 
focused in the south of England.

73
00:06:00,100 --> 00:06:05,600
So, the southeast of England 
around London and the home 

74
00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:09,900
counties. 
These are the wealthiest richest

75
00:06:09,900 --> 00:06:15,000
counties in the UK. 
So today I wanted to look at a 

76
00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:20,500
few common English words and 
show you the two differences. 

77
00:06:21,100 --> 00:06:25,500
So, with many of these words, 
there are often three different 

78
00:06:25,500 --> 00:06:29,700
ways of saying them in English 
one option. 

79
00:06:29,900 --> 00:06:34,300
In is preferred by the working 
class or middle class and 

80
00:06:34,300 --> 00:06:40,100
another is often preferred and 
used by the upper class are. 

81
00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:44,900
But today we're going to look at
two options for each word. 

82
00:06:45,200 --> 00:06:51,300
So the upper class and the known
upper class because really the 

83
00:06:51,300 --> 00:06:55,800
difference between working class
and middle class is a lot more 

84
00:06:55,800 --> 00:07:02,200
blurred or not clear anymore and
the Words used can move between 

85
00:07:02,200 --> 00:07:07,500
the two, but the upper class 
words are still very separate 

86
00:07:07,500 --> 00:07:11,500
and different from what a lot of
us use today. 

87
00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:17,200
So I'd like to tell you a few of
them, the most clear and common 

88
00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:24,000
example, is often known upper 
class or non rich, people will 

89
00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:29,500
call it will say, movie movie, 
like in America. 

90
00:07:30,100 --> 00:07:34,600
And in the upper class, they 
tend to prefer the word film 

91
00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:38,500
film. 
Of course it can be used in both

92
00:07:38,700 --> 00:07:44,000
but film tends to be used more 
in the upper class and never 

93
00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:48,600
common word which I'm sure. 
You know is the word toilet 

94
00:07:48,900 --> 00:07:55,400
toilet, a very common word in 
English in the upper class or 

95
00:07:55,400 --> 00:08:01,600
the wealthiest areas of society 
they tend to use Word lavatory 

96
00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:09,000
lavatory instead of toilet and 
never common word is Desert. 

97
00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:15,200
So the food that you eat after 
the meal often sweet, like a 

98
00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:22,600
cake or a bun or something, nice
and sweet in the upper class or 

99
00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:28,200
the wealthiest areas, they tend 
to use the word pudding pudding 

100
00:08:28,900 --> 00:08:33,500
and the final, Example, I'd like
to give you today is a word, you

101
00:08:33,500 --> 00:08:39,799
probably know quite well. 
So living room or line JH, this 

102
00:08:39,799 --> 00:08:45,200
is the room in which you might 
watch TV, maybe entertain some 

103
00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:50,800
Ghasts, and have a cup of tea in
the wealthier or upper classes. 

104
00:08:51,200 --> 00:08:57,800
They tend to say sitting room or
drawing room, drawing room and 

105
00:08:57,800 --> 00:09:01,500
lined or living room is Not 
quite popular. 

106
00:09:02,300 --> 00:09:08,100
These are just a few small 
examples of language use and it 

107
00:09:08,100 --> 00:09:13,200
gets even more complicated. 
So when we get into the very 

108
00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:20,500
elite class of British Society. 
So the top four or five percent 

109
00:09:20,600 --> 00:09:26,800
or even by some studies 6% of 
the richest, wealthiest people 

110
00:09:26,800 --> 00:09:32,400
in the UK they use an Most 
entirely different way of 

111
00:09:32,400 --> 00:09:37,600
speaking. 
A lot of almost specific slang 

112
00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:42,600
words which are almost not 
understandable to other native 

113
00:09:42,600 --> 00:09:47,600
speakers outside of this group. 
It can be very confusing and 

114
00:09:47,600 --> 00:09:52,400
difficult to understand even for
most of British Society. 

115
00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:57,500
So all of this might sound a 
little bit strange to you but 

116
00:09:57,500 --> 00:10:03,500
don't worry in To, although it 
is still present and clear in 

117
00:10:03,500 --> 00:10:08,600
many ways at the class system 
and the divides in Britain are 

118
00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:13,300
not as bad as they once were. 
And it isn't a serious, a 

119
00:10:13,300 --> 00:10:17,100
distinction. 
Of course, there are still many 

120
00:10:17,100 --> 00:10:21,700
problems which come from the 
system and the history behind it

121
00:10:22,100 --> 00:10:25,800
and these social separations 
within the UK. 

122
00:10:26,300 --> 00:10:29,600
But the reality is we live in a 
time with me. 

123
00:10:29,800 --> 00:10:34,700
More opportunities than ever, 
people can get access and 

124
00:10:34,700 --> 00:10:39,900
opportunities to education at an
unprecedented rate. 

125
00:10:39,900 --> 00:10:43,500
So I read which they never seen 
before. 

126
00:10:43,900 --> 00:10:48,600
But as I always think we can 
move towards improving these 

127
00:10:48,600 --> 00:10:53,000
divides. 
I think that separating people 

128
00:10:53,000 --> 00:10:58,200
in terms of perspective and how 
you view them based on the 

129
00:10:58,200 --> 00:11:02,000
amount of money they have. 
Of what kind of family they came

130
00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:07,700
from is bad. 
Ultimately, it's bad and quite -

131
00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:11,700
we should judge. 
And look at each person for who 

132
00:11:11,700 --> 00:11:15,500
they are. 
What they've done, what they do 

133
00:11:15,900 --> 00:11:19,000
and their own personality and 
beliefs. 

134
00:11:19,600 --> 00:11:23,300
We should not judge them based 
on their family, their 

135
00:11:23,300 --> 00:11:27,500
ethnicity, their skin color, or 
any of these things. 

136
00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:30,900
So I hope this was interesting. 
Interesting for you. 

137
00:11:31,100 --> 00:11:35,000
It's a little bit of a different
podcast topic today, but 

138
00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:39,600
something that I was thinking 
about recently, when I was 

139
00:11:39,600 --> 00:11:44,200
watching a lot of content about 
British politics and really, 

140
00:11:44,200 --> 00:11:49,400
looking at how different our 
politicians are from the average

141
00:11:49,400 --> 00:11:55,600
people, the average person in 
the UK because in the UK are 

142
00:11:55,600 --> 00:11:59,600
politicians are often seen as 
from this upper class. 

143
00:12:00,400 --> 00:12:05,600
So the small minority of the 
population and the rest of the 

144
00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:10,300
country is really not. 
So, similar to the politicians 

145
00:12:10,500 --> 00:12:15,200
who are making our laws. 
I am, and really deciding the 

146
00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:20,200
future of the country. 
So, I hope you have a fantastic 

147
00:12:20,200 --> 00:12:23,700
day, whatever time of the day 
you're listening, and wherever 

148
00:12:23,700 --> 00:12:27,900
you are have a wonderful day and
I will see you in the next 

149
00:12:27,900 --> 00:12:29,500
episode. 
Goodbye.