Reply to The term "powder room"

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[quote=Anonymous]Hi, I think I may have been the person in OP's post who, on another thread, said the term "powder room" was "suburban."  I had no idea it would create such a stink (sorry)!

If I had known my word choices would become such a big deal, I might have been a little more careful....  I probably should have said that "powder room" is "middle class" but as I recall it wouldn't have been clear in the context of the thread which was about suburbia. Sure, there's some overlap between "suburban" and "middle class" but it isn't perfect and, well, if I had known, I would have been more precise.

As another poster already pointed out, euphemisms are a mark of middle class language. Like "passed away" instead of "died."  The people I know who come from old families, including parts of my own family, have very strong opinions (I kid you not) about saying "died" and not being prudish about body functions. I don't think using "died" is necessarily a religious vs. non-religious distinction, instead it seems more a class distinction.

FWIW, the Brits, who are much more class-ridden than us, make similar class distinctions about lavatories vs. toilets, napkins vs. serviettes, et cetera.  Or at least this was true several decades ago when Nancy Mitford wrote about "U vs. non-U" language.

Of course, simply worrying about your language is itself very middle class, which makes all of us, including me, guilty.[/quote]

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