- Wed Jun 27, 2001 11:00 am
#116256
OK, the thing about Oxford, like the rest of society, is that there are certain, different groups of people - from the upper-class Lords (who are a minority) to the common little b*stards like me (again, a minority).<P>The main thing you have to note about Oxford is that about 95% of the students here are middle-class - there are very few true poor, working-class people, and very few truly upper-class people. A lot of the students here have posh voices, but they're usually the ones who are nicest - they're polite, well-mannered, hang around with those who aren't "posh" like them, and they're "posh" upbringing prevent's them from being "snobby" - as I said, they're basically middle-class kids who went to a good school. They're often much nicer and more fun to be with than those who (like me) went to comprehensives; and they often come across as generally more cultured - you may laugh at people listening to classical music at first, as I did, but gradually you start to respect them for it.<P>Then we move onto the "cliques", the people I despise. These are the people, often from Eton, Harrow or other schools, though you can't say all students from these schools fall into this category, who only talk to and socialise with certain people. They don't participate in college/uni events, they don't come to hall to eat meals with other students, they stubbornly refuse to mix with others. Just imagine the girls from "Clueless" and you have a good image of what they're like. They are the true "snobs" here though you often can't tell on first impressions as they often don't have a posh accent - almost always they're from London schools like Westminster, or Eton/Harrow - London kids almost never have a posh accent. <P>The cliquey blokes stubbornly refuse to mix with other people outside of their group of people - as is their want, I guess, but it annoys everyone else. Some can be quite nice if you get to know them but most I just disike on sight ("ya ya absolutely Fish old boy".. god I hate them..). The cliquey girls, although most have obnoxious, shallow personalities, are VERY, VERY fit - on sight you would love to s.hag them - great bodies, often very beautiful, but again v. v. shallow and superficial, oh, and big drug-takers, from pot to coke. And spoilt brats.<P>I'm tired..in conclusion monkey, on first impressions people here can appear posh & snobby because of their accents but usually the ones with accents are the nicest, most un-snobby people of all. Just beware of the cliques..