CHATTERING CLASSES

noun (People and Society) In the colloquial language of the media in the UK, educated members of the middle and upper classes who read the 'quality' newspapers, hold freely expressed liberal political opinions, and see themselves as highly articulate and socially aware. Etymology: A catch-phrase (apparently coined by the journalist Frank Johnson in the early eighties and popularized by Alan Watkins of the Observer), after the model of working classes--the main characteristic of the group being readiness to express social and political opinions which are nevertheless seen by those in power as mere chatter. History and Usage: According to an article by Alan Watkins in the Guardian (25 November 1989), the term was coined by Frank Johnson in conversation with Watkins in the late seventies or early eighties, when the two journalists lived in neighbouring flats. Certainly it was Watkins who subsequently popularized this apt description and turned it into a useful piece of shorthand for a well-known British 'type'. According to Watkins, the most important characteristics of the chattering classes at the time were their political views (usually including criticism of the then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher), their occupations (social workers, teachers, journalists, 'media people'), and their preferred reading matter (newspapers such as the Guardian, Independent, and Observer). Does anybody really care who is elected Chancellor of the University of Oxford? Only the chattering classes are exercised. Daily Telegraph 7 Mar. 1987, p. 14