2007-11-16 03:45:07 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
It depends on who is saying it and how they feel about working in general.
If an aristocratic person says it (Paris Hilton), it is offensive.
If a person with a small business (Bakery owner) says it, then maybe it isn't. They feel proud that they can support themselves.
Sometime people in the working class are ashamed of their position, may feel that is beneath them, and they may say it in a pejorative manner.
Then again, a rich person who doesn't have to work, may say it in an uplifting way. Saying that he is ashamed of his laziness, and would like to join the working class so he can feel like a man, would be an example of that.
Those are the 4 main ways people can use that term. There might be more, but I feel that they will be vairations of my four examples I just you.
2007-11-16 04:22:17 · answer #1 · answered by Loving Life 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I don't find this term offensive; it simply means (at least to me) the group of people who work as opposed to those who don't work. What can be wrong w/that?
2007-11-16 04:06:51 · answer #2 · answered by Elaine P...is for Poetry 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It shouldn't be. Unfortunately, if you substitute the "official" term for the working class (blue collar) "The Proletariat" you'll end up being called a Marxist, Communist or worse!!
So substitute "proletariat" for "working class" or "blue-collar workers" and see what happens!
Remember, the motto of the USSR was "Proletarii vsekh stran soyedinyaites' or "Workers of the world unite!"
2007-11-16 03:56:31 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I don't think it is offensive, unless you are upset that you have to work for a living.
I am proud to be working class because it means that everything I have in life I have earned myself.
2007-11-16 03:50:41 · answer #4 · answered by Sarah K 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Like other collective nouns it depends upon who uses the expression and the tone of voice in which it is uttered.
2007-11-16 03:59:07 · answer #5 · answered by picador 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
i think its a compliment....in a time when so many people are "non-working", and relying on the government or another to take care of their material needs....i am proud to be called one who is working for a living!
2007-11-16 03:55:23 · answer #6 · answered by miki 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Slightly so if you were referring to a woman.
She was a working class girl.
2007-11-16 07:29:38 · answer #7 · answered by Frankel 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes, certainly. When you call a lame fellow a lame, he would get annoyed. When you call a fellow whose wife died a widower, he would also get annoyed. Then, why not when you call a fellow from the working class get annoyed when you call him a person from working class?
2007-11-16 04:07:47 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
It shouldn't be but this is where it has come to.
2007-11-16 04:40:37 · answer #9 · answered by QUESTIONER 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋