the linguist Alan S.C. Ross introduced the terms "U and non-U" to describe English usage of the upper class and the aspiring middle class. Ross had published his article in an obscure journal, but the novelist and socialite Nancy Mitford (who came from a decidedly aristocratic background) brought "U and non-U" to wider attention in an essay she wrote two years later. Even then, Pleased to meet you, toilet, and Pardon? all made the "non-U" vocabulary lists of Ross and Mitford — indicative, they said, of unseemly social striving among middle-class speakers trying to appear more genteel.
Much has changed in Britain's social landscape in the last half century, and yet these class markers continue to persist. In a 2004 book entitled Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour, the social anthropologist Kate Fox lists "seven words that the English uppers and upper-middles regard as infallible shibboleths." Fox writes, "Utter any one of these 'seven deadly sins' in the presence of these higher classes, and their on-board class-radar devices will start bleeping and flashing." Pardon? and toilet lead off the list, followed by serviette (instead of napkin), dinner (instead of lunch, when referring to the midday meal), settee (instead of sofa), lounge (instead of sitting room or drawing room), and sweet (instead of pudding, for the sweet course at the end of a meal that Americans call dessert).
As the flap over Carole Middleton's supposed linguistic offenses showed, there are still lingering anxieties over how to "talk posh." Actually, as Fox explains in her book, "If you want to 'talk posh,' you will have to stop using the term 'posh,' for a start: the correct upper-class word is 'smart.' In upper-middle and upper-class circles, 'posh' can only be used ironically, in a jokey tone of voice to show that you know it is a low-class word." Got it?
As for Kate and William, any qualms over the class divide don't seem to have manifested themselves since their temporary breakup in 2007. (In the meantime, a more socially embarrassing relative of Kate has emerged: her dissolute uncle Gary, brother of Carole, who sports a "Nouveau Riche" tattoo across his shoulder blades.) It turns out that the couple and their circle are united in another kind of social grouping, known as rahs or yahs, roughly equivalent to American preppies. A recent Slate article lampooned the affluent ways of the rahs and how they stereotypically speak:
What is the rah patois? You must know our ding-a-lingo, darling. Everything is glorious, divine, splendid, beauteous, naughty, a twirling whirl. We adore archaisms: alas, anon, perchance. Never say evening. It's eve. Never say balsamic. It's balsam. Adorn everything with French. Je t'embrasse. Ce soir. Chez moi. I am a flâneuse. You are a flâneur. Let us troubadour ensemble. Bisous!
Bonded in rah-dom, perhaps Kate and William can steer clear of the social pitfalls of past generations, creating a new kind of prestigious talk to aspire to. In the meantime, if you happen to get an audience with William's grandmum, remember not to tell her you're pleased to meet her.