--- On Tue, 3/3/09, richard owens <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> can you explain the following a bit further?
>
> Americans can't see why having parents who went to
> college means you're no longer an "ordinary
> person."
Not too much further, as I think it's a bit off-topic. The language of the broadcast seems to reserve "ordinary" for Northern working class people whose parents would not have gone to college. I was obliquely offering the commonplace that Americans think we're almost all ordinary middle-class folks. Until recently many more Americans would have at least some time at a college or university than in the UK or other European countries--even people in "working-class" jobs. The football press in Britain seemed amazed when our soccer players turned up with university degrees.
David Latané
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