ChrisH
Zara, I find the above section from your post very condescending and, as a working class person, somewhat offensive.
Actually as I started reading this thread I thought that "Miss Z" was very carefully choosing her words so as to not offend anyone. I thought that the thread was written in such a way that no one even in the "working class", as you Brits would refer to it, should be offended. I think that the "blue collar" , as it is called in the US, would have found it tastefully written. Maybe the "working class" is more sensitive there than I have found "Blue collar" workers in the US to be. I believe most Americans would not find being referred to as "blue collar" as being a disparaging thing. I worked for years as a Systems Engineer and in that position I worked with and supervised many construction types that proudly carried the "blue collar" label. While I was considered management I related well to the men I had to work with on a daily basis. While at work our worlds were very much the same, however after work I was anything but "blue collar" and it did nothing to change how I related to the men I had to work with. I was often "teased" because My life was so different than theirs, but it was always done with respect. Most of the time I was just one of the Guys, blue collar guys.