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I found this all very amusing, especially the following:
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Originally Posted by tvdxer
1. You own a large, flat-screen TV, but it's NOT in the living room. Your living room perhaps contains books or a grand piano.
Sad to say, our large flat-screen TV IS in the living room, because our house is so small we only have one living space, and I refuse to have it in the bedroom. But there is also a piano, though it's only an upright.
4. You listen to NPR in the car.
Only on Saturdays. Car Talk.
7. You are familiar with the following food items, even if you're from flyover country: hummus, couscous, sashimi, banh mi, and risotto.
I make hummus in the blender. Love it.
13. If you're a female, you don sunglasses even when it isn't that sunny out.
Well, this is Southern California after all. It's always sunny and I NEED sunglasses.
14. You drive only foreign cars, preferably Mercedes-Benz or BMW.
Yep, because my husband is a BMW mechanic so BMWs are the most economical choice for us!
15. Staying in shape and in style is a priority to you. You have a gym membership, perhaps in addition to a road bike you paid a pretty penny for.
No gym, no road bike, but I do have a Yeti mountain bike...
16. You like, or feign to like, the fine arts, and have attended a classical music concert, opera, or play at least once or twice (going on a field trip as a kid not included). You consider it perfectly natural to listen to classical music or jazz radio and patronize art-house cinema.
Love classical music. Love. It's all I listen to. No feigning about it.
18. If you're 40 or older, your house measures over 2,500 square feet in area. If you designed it, you made sure to implement "green" features. The kitchen is spacious. Especially if in a southwestern state, you probably have some paid help cleaning it, perhaps full-time.
Nope, 1300 square feet. I don't even know anyone who has full time cleaning help...seriously?
20. You don't like the homogenization of the United States through chain stores and franchises, but deep down you love Trader Joe's, REI, Whole Foods, Barnes and Noble, Chipotle, Macy's, IKEA, Target, and Fogo de Chao.
Gotta have TJs!
22. You regularly go to or host dinner parties. You have separate kitchen and dining rooms.
Hahaha. See #18.
24. When your children are young, intellectual stimulation and creative expression is the primary goal of your toy-buying practices. No or limited cheap electronic playthings or radio-controlled monster trucks.
Any toys that talked or sang or otherwise made noise "broke" very quickly, which means I hid the batteries.
1. You own a large, flat-screen TV, but it's NOT in the living room. Your living room perhaps contains books or a grand piano.
Nope, 46" TV is in the living room. My parents had an upright piano in the living room, though
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2. Your father went to college, your mother most likely went to college, all your brothers and sisters and cousins except the black sheep of the extended family attended at least some college, and your family's college education stretches back generations (except if you're newly upper middle class).
Mother didn't, but all cousins, brothers, sisters. So did many uncles and aunts, but no one from prior generations. (I'm 2nd generation UMC -- but as I said in the earlier post, no one cares)
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7. You are familiar with the following food items, even if you're from flyover country: hummus, couscous, sashimi, banh mi, and risotto.
Having Italian family means I better know what risotto is! Not banh mi though.
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12. You love "nature", the "outdoors", and the "wilderness", and like tread softly through the woods in your $250 hiking boots with your $250 bag and perhaps sleep in your $1,000 tent, or if a northern clime, in your expensive cross-country skis. It can suck losing iPhone connectivity, though.
Wish I could find a pair of hiking boots that fit, $250 or otherwise. But I stick to day hikes.
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14. You drive only foreign cars, preferably Mercedes-Benz or BMW.
Around here Audi seems to be even more popular, with BMW a close second. None of mine are any of those, but all are foreign.
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16. You like, or feign to like, the fine arts, and have attended a classical music concert, opera, or play at least once or twice (going on a field trip as a kid not included). You consider it perfectly natural to listen to classical music or jazz radio and patronize art-house cinema.
Well, I married an artist. Comes with the territory.
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18. If you're 40 or older, your house measures over 2,500 square feet in area. If you designed it, you made sure to implement "green" features. The kitchen is spacious. Especially if in a southwestern state, you probably have some paid help cleaning it, perhaps full-time.
Sorry, smaller than that, and no help cleaning it.
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19. You probably don't live in one, unless you are in your 20s or early 30s, but you love "authentic" and "vibrant" urban spaces such as those found in New York City, San Francisco, and Portland, with plentiful pedestrian traffic, ample public transportation, narrow streets, and storefronts that are right up to the sidewalk rather than behind a sea of parking.
Nope, give me wide streets and stores with ample parking. I ride the NYC subway all the time and familiarity breeds contempt.
I found this thread by Googling, and I'd like to revive this, though the last comment was from 6 years ago. The OP's post as well as the New England woman's applies to me. I grew up very, very middle class, and nowhere near upper middle by anyone's standards.
I'm Asian American, though. Asian Americans do tend to be more "bougie," cultured, and sophisticated in interests because our parents often came as grad students, we read and consume a lot of media, we value education, and we tend to live in the coastal elitist areas. I'm from San Francisco, so the pretense and eclectic, artsy, non-mainstream vibe is everywhere here. This vibe is often not recognized when it's in an Asian, though, because that set of interests and tastes is known as a white people thing. Asians are generally dismissed and relegated to robots with no taste or sophistication, when Asians usually think in much more deep, creative, intuitive, and nuanced ways than others.
The OP's comment and other comments were written in 2013-14, so that applies more to people from back then. On sites with lots of teens and 20-somethings these days, they can come from that same cultured area but have an entirely different set of interests and worldview.
People can be upper middle class from more rural and suburban areas that are Trump Country and have a completely different set of interests and worldview.
1. You own a large, flat-screen TV, but it's NOT in the living room. Your living room perhaps contains books or a grand piano.
- Nope, only own 1 32" TV and it is in the living room/
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2. Your father went to college, your mother most likely went to college, all your brothers and sisters and cousins except the black sheep of the extended family attended at least some college, and your family's college education stretches back generations (except if you're newly upper middle class).
- My mother was the first in her family that went to college, no idea about my father. My in laws did not attend college. My husband and I both graduated college.
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3. When traveling, you prefer to choose destinations that are "not touristy" and give an "authentic" taste of local life.
- We don't travel.
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4. You listen to NPR in the car.
- Nope, listen to music in the car.
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5. If 35 or older, you participate in the community through being on the board of some local chapter of an organization, or extensively volunteering for it with your valuable free time.
- No participation
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6. If you're male, you golf, if not for the love of it than because of social pressure.
- Husband doesn't golf.
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7. You are familiar with the following food items, even if you're from flyover country: hummus, couscous, sashimi, banh mi, and risotto.
- Im familiar with them, but risotto is about the only one I will eat.
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8. You sometimes watch foreign films, and consider dubbing an abomination - you would much prefer subtitles.
- Have only watched a couple of foreign films
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9. You strongly identify with your career.
- My husband and I both love our careers, he is an electrical engineer and I am an auditor.
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10. From preschool or a younger age, you enroll your children in a multitude of extracurricular activities - piano lessons, ballet, tennis, water polo, etc.
- No children
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11. Your children's academic success is paramount to you, and you set very high standards. If they get a "C" in a class, either their teacher or the child has much to answer for. When in high school, you make sure they take lots of AP courses, and unless they are the brightest of the bunch, you hire a SAT tutor. Deep down inside, there's a burning desire to boast that your children went to a high-ranked university, or at least NOT one of the lesser state colleges, and certainly not a community college.
- No children
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12. You love "nature", the "outdoors", and the "wilderness", and like tread softly through the woods in your $250 hiking boots with your $250 bag and perhaps sleep in your $1,000 tent, or if a northern clime, in your expensive cross-country skis. It can suck losing iPhone connectivity, though.
- I would never spend that much money on hiking boots, sleeping bags, or a tent and I choose our vacation spots (when we go) based on the fact that there is no cell service.
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13. If you're a female, you don sunglasses even when it isn't that sunny out.
- I will wear sunglasses when driving on a bright rainy day, it cuts the glare of the water spray on the road.
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14. You drive only foreign cars, preferably Mercedes-Benz or BMW.
- We drive Nissans
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15. Staying in shape and in style is a priority to you. You have a gym membership, perhaps in addition to a road bike you paid a pretty penny for.
- Nope
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16. You like, or feign to like, the fine arts, and have attended a classical music concert, opera, or play at least once or twice (going on a field trip as a kid not included). You consider it perfectly natural to listen to classical music or jazz radio and patronize art-house cinema.
- I do love to go to museums and sometimes will go to one of those mystery dinner plays and have even attended musicals.
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17. Planning for your retirement is important, and you fully understand such things as 401Ks and Roth IRAs. You might even have a financial advisor. You watch the stock market and probably participate in it somehow.
- Close
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18. If you're 40 or older, your house measures over 2,500 square feet in area. If you designed it, you made sure to implement "green" features. The kitchen is spacious. Especially if in a southwestern state, you probably have some paid help cleaning it, perhaps full-time.
- Nope, live in a RV and I would not hire someone to come in and clean a place that takes me only 2 hours to clean top to bottom.
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19. You probably don't live in one, unless you are in your 20s or early 30s, but you love "authentic" and "vibrant" urban spaces such as those found in New York City, San Francisco, and Portland, with plentiful pedestrian traffic, ample public transportation, narrow streets, and storefronts that are right up to the sidewalk rather than behind a sea of parking.
- I live in Houston
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20. You don't like the homogenization of the United States through chain stores and franchises, but deep down you love Trader Joe's, REI, Whole Foods, Barnes and Noble, Chipotle, Macy's, IKEA, Target, and Fogo de Chao.
- Chain restaurants and stores are great, I know what to expect. I will also shop at "mom and pop" stores.
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21. You want your children to be creative, imaginative, think out-of-the-box, and tolerant of differences. You perhaps even enjoy when they question one of your rules.
- No children
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22. You regularly go to or host dinner parties. You have separate kitchen and dining rooms.
- Hate dinner parties, although we eat in the living room so I guess the kitchen and dining room are separate.
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23. You have read, for leisure, at least one non-fiction title that does not fall into the category of self-help, automotive/technical, or religious books in the past year, and are familiar with authors, whom you often name-drop at above parties.
- Only read fiction
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24. When your children are young, intellectual stimulation and creative expression is the primary goal of your toy-buying practices. No or limited cheap electronic playthings or radio-controlled monster trucks.
- No children
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25. You have a rather refined taste in alcohol. You are familiar with local breweries, micro-brews, >$10 / bottle wines, and refined cocktails with non-obscene names.
Well everyone in Australia will soon be driving foreign cars seeing that our car making industry has completely closed down. We have a Lexus and an Audi but it seems half of Sydney does too.
I do not qualify as upper middle class because DH insists on a tv in the living room.
We do not talk much about upper middle class here, surveys show that most of us consider ourselves just middle class.
I think the primary way to tell is intellectual engagement. White collar professional parents feed their children intellectual rocket fuel. That typically becomes a lifetime behavior.
You call yourself a "young professional." I've always thought that was sort of a pretentious term.
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