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Nobs wouldn’t “take” tea, but “have” it.
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What is this?
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What is this?
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But the vestibule's comfy for tea Sir John Betjeman – How to Get On in Society
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The upper crust would have drawing-rooms rather than the rather modern “lounges” of the middle class.
They have rooms analogous to vestibules, but avoid that rather pretentious name. “Comfy” is also far too twee a word.
“Ever so close” should be “awfully stuffy” or something of the sort.
“Dear” is only used by the toffs when they want to tick each other off.
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And I must have things daintily served. Sir John Betjeman – How to Get On in Society
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The use of “serviette” over “napkin” shows a penchant for the fancy and Frenchified which is part of the middle-class quest for daintiness. “Kiddies” is a noticeably plebeian term, suggestive of a lower background…
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The gentry would never specify that they were horseback riding; the word “riding” alone would convey all that was sufficient. An example of the middle-class preference for complexity where the upper wants simplicity.
“Howard” is named after the ineffably grand Dukes of Norfolk
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The upper classes preferred the more formal “telephone.”
For some reason, the Victorians associated the use of fish knives with arrivistes – maybe because Old Money ate their fish with just forks?
The name “Norman” is a crude attempt at emulating the older English noble families, who are generally of Norman origin (“came over with the conqueror”)
The abbreviation ‘phone, was considered de-classe