Editing U and non-U English (section)

{{Short description|Social class-based varieties of English}}
{{Use Oxford spelling|date=April 2024}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}

'''U and non-U English usage''', where "U" stands for [[upper class]] and "non-U" represents the aspiring [[middle class|middle]] and [[lower classes]], was part of the terminology of popular discourse of social dialects ([[sociolect]]s) in [[UK|Britain]] in the 1950s.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Admin |title=U or non-U |url=https://performanceinenglish.com/2017/03/06/u-or-non-u/ |access-date=22 April 2024 |website=Performance in English |language=en-GB}}</ref> The different vocabularies often appeared counter-intuitive, with the middle classes prefering "fancy" or fashionable words, even [[neologism]]s and often [[euphemism]]s, in attempts to make themselves sound more refined ([[Hypercorrection#English|"posher than posh"]]) and the upper classes using plain and traditional words that the working classes also used, as, confident in the security of their social position, they had no need to seek to display refinement.<ref name="ross1954">Ross, Alan S. C., "Linguistic class-indicators in present-day English", ''Neuphilologische Mitteilungen'' (Helsinki), vol. 55(1) (1954), 20–56. {{JSTOR|43341716}}</ref> By the late 20th century the usefulness of the terms as signals of social class had decreased, and by the 2020s they had ceased to be reliable signals.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />