Person belonging to middle class = ?

[susilona]

Good day!

I'm searching for terms used for people who stand between the best-off and worst-off in a society (i.e. the middle class).

I'm interested in all terms - not only in modern context. Also slang and archaic words are of interest.


I know bourgeois, but would like to know if there are others.

Thank you!

 

[RobertMiernik]

Try that for starters

Synonyms and Antonyms for middle class
I found great synonyms for "middle class" on the new Thesaurus.com!

 

[ewie]

A long time ago the middle classes were often referred to as the middling sort.

I also just found this in my dictionary of slang:

boojee/boojie/boojum/boojy/bourgie n. [1950s>] (orig. US Black) a bourgeois, middle-class, thus law-abiding Black (equally applicable to Whites). [from Standard English bourgeois]

I've never heard this before and have no idea if it's still in use.

 

[sound shift]

I heard "bourgie" used as an adjective many years ago here in the UK. As I recall, the tone was rather sneering.

As for standard English bourgeois - I haven't heard anyone speak the word in years. In the UK at least, I think the word tends to be used to show disapproval of, or to mock, middle-class mores.

 

[Hermione Golightly]

It depends on what these middle-class people are doing.

Try 'Middle England' and 'the chattering classes' which is especially derogatory.

The chattering classes is a generally derogatory[1] term first coined by Auberon Waugh[2] often used by pundits and political commentators to refer to a politically active, socially concerned and highly educated section of the "metropolitan middle class",[1] especially those with political, media, and academic connections.

[Wiki]
There's also 'bobos', if I remember rightly, for bourgeois bohemians, French in origin I believe; and of course there's the 'BoJo', a rare upper middle-class English type of male, Oxford-educated classicist-cum-buffoon in urgent need of a Trumpian hair stylist.


We're not supposed to make lists.

 

[ewie]

As for standard English bourgeois - I haven't heard anyone speak the word in years.

I use it incessantly, Mr S.

 

[sound shift]

Really, E? Do you use it in a neutral way, as a synonym of "middle-class"?

 

[ewie]

Oh no! ~ it's shorthand for 'everything that's atrocious about middle-class-ness'

 

[Sparky Malarky]

Susilona, have you read the forum rules? Please READ this before you post: English Only Guidelines — forum rules.

You seem to be asking for a list, which is not allowed. Please give us questions about specific words.