Who's U?

In these days of penurious peers and vanishing stately homes, how can one tell whether an Englishman is a genuine member of the Upper Class? Last week, in a slim anthology of aristocratic manners edited by aristocratic Novelist Nancy Mitford (Noblesse Oblige; Hamish Hamilton), England got an answer that has managed to stir up everyone from Novelist Graham Greene to Actor John Loder. Not since Humorist Stephen Potter launched the cult of gamesmanship had the nation been so obsessed as it was over the difference between U (Upper Class) and non-U.

Though Noblesse Oblige is obviously the definitive work on the subject, the controversy really began with a learned paper, published in Helsinki by Philologist Alan S. C. Ross of the University of Birmingham. "Today," said Ross, "a member of the upper class is, for instance, not necessarily better educated, cleaner or richer than someone not of this class."

The tags that set him apart are minor--"the games of real tennis and piquet, an aversion to high tea, having one's cards engraved (not printed) and, in some cases, a dislike of certain comparatively modern inventions such as the telephone, the cinema and the wireless." But in general, added Ross, the best way to tell the U person is by his way of speaking.

Don't Take a Bath. Though Philologist Ross admitted that "silence [is] perhaps the most favorite of all U usages today." the upper classes do have to open their mouths sometimes. They may repress a shudder at saying "Cheers" when drinking, but they will flatly refuse to say the non-U "God bless!" They do not "take a bath"; the U version is "have one's bath." U usage is a nought for the U.S. zero, and what? for pardon! The word civil has a special meaning for the upper class: it is "used to approve the behavior of a non-U person in that the latter has appreciated the difference between U and non-U, e.g., 'The guard was certainly very civil.' "

"How is your cup?" is the non-U equivalent of "Have some more tea?" The reply "I don't mind if I do" is definitely non-U, but "this was U about a century ago." The U speaker eats lunch in the middle of the day ("luncheon is old-fashioned U") and dinner at night. He never wears a dress-suit, and the "sentence 'Shall we wear evening dress?' would not be possible, the appropriate expression being 'Are we going to change?' "To answer the salutation "How d'you do?" with "Quite well, thank you" is as non-U as saying ill, mirror, notepaper, radio, serviette, toilet-paper, wealthy and lounges for the U words sick, lookingglass, writing paper, wireless, table-napkin, lavatory-paper, rich and halls. The U reply to "How d'you do?" is "How d'you do?"

Don't Work for Money. When Author Mitford (the Hon. Mrs. Peter Rodd) heard of Ross's paper, she dashed off an essay for Encounter elaborating his theme (her chief U distinction: "The purpose of the aristocrat is most emphatically not to work for money"). To this, Novelist Evelyn Waugh added a non-U note of his own: "All nannies and many governesses, when pouring out tea, put the milk in first." In the Spectator, the journalist "Strix" (Peter Fleming) pointed out that in U-speech there is "a relish for incongruity." Hence, a dull party can be a disaster, while a disaster (on the battlefield) can be a party. As for military U speech: "Although it is perfectly U to be wounded, it is slightly U-er to be hit"

The U voices did not go unopposed. In the Sunday Observer, Novelist Philip Toynbee came out strongly in favor of such non-U words as greens for vegetables, wealthy for rich, sweet for pudding, and wire for telegram. Graham Greene complained that by Nancy Mitford's exacting standard, Henry James would have to be considered non-U because he once began a letter "Dear Margot Asquith" instead of "Dear Mrs. Asquith." Another reader pointed out that Shakespeare's Richard II was addicted to using the non-U mirror. Sniffed Novelist Mitford: "It is probable that Richard II, like many monarchs, was non-U. As for Henry James ... he was an American."

Don't Change. In the Daily Express Etonian John Loder defiantly announced that he often uses "Cheers" when at "ritzy houses just to watch the horrified looks I get." Complained three aristocratic ladies, including a daughter of Lord Kilmuir: "We all come from what we thought were U families, but ... we all say 'mantlepiece' and have sugar in our coffee. Does this mean that we must change our classification?" On the contrary, said Sir Robert Boothby. In order to achieve a really classless society, "we must all become U as quickly as possible." But can the non-U speaker ever become U? For the answer to that, Britain had to turn back to the man who had started the whole controversy. "The question," Philologist Ross had said, "is one noticeably of paramount importance for many Englishmen (and for some of their wives). The answer is that an adult can never attain complete success."

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