My personal definition of upper class is a person whose main income isn't from working. Work is done to maintain the fortune and you don't touch the sizable principal. Originally Posted by SA AngelI shall step up and disagree with you. The use of of the word classy in this discussion is to describe someone's bearing, presentation, and manners.
Classy:
adjective, classier, classiest. Informal.
1. of high class, rank, or grade; stylish; admirably smart; elegant.
One can behave in such of a way to mimic the traditional expectations of a person born into gentry or nobility (high class or upper class), but that accident of birth does not make someone classy. It makes them rich. Neither old money or new money defines character.
If the family doesn't own multiple vacation properties you don't belong. Originally Posted by SA AngelAgain, I disagree. Wealth does not equate to class. Your mistaken assumptions are because in olden days, families of influence had the leisure time to define communal mores and etiquette. Conducting yourself in a manner similar to one of class is the very definition (above) of classy - not because you or they were rich, but because at the time, the conduct of the rich was stylish, admirable, and elegant.
This is no longer true. The strumpets on T.V. that the media forcefeed as entertainment into the vacuous expressions of the majority are not classy. They lack elegance, poise, grace, and humility.
Personally, I'd rather be well bred than classy. The word "classy" seems to be used most often by those who don't deserve it or utter snobs. Originally Posted by SA AngelAs do you.
I *do* agree...and have said in the thread that spawned this discussion that the word "classy" is overused. As is the word "lady" and "gentleman."
I am at least acquaintances with several millionaires, and two billionaires - I had lunch with Bob McNair last week...and while I have on occasion been stunned with displays of opulence and wealth (seriously, a real batcave - with rotating car display, minus bats) that wealth can only offer the leisure to pursue dignity, but does not inherently confer it.