saturday evening, overheard.

drunken british girl 1: [accidentally turning on the "hot" faucet and scalding her hands, letting out an exaggerated shriek, then dancing and hopping around the restroom]

drunken british girl 2: oh, cool it, ricky martin.

drunken british girl 1: whatever. i'm straighter than ricky martin.

[group of drunken british girls continue chatting very loudly. finally they leave.]

not so drunk british girl who wasn't part of the original group of drunk british girls: who ARE these people?

my girlfriend: yeah, they were loud, weren't they?

not so drunk british girl who wasn't part of the original group of drunk british girls: what a bunch of pompous, middle class bastards!

huh? come again? is the british middle class an animal that is different from the american middle class? when i think "middle class" i think the vast majority of americans. gap-wearing, mall-visiting, sam adams-swilling, camry-driving clones - a demographic of which i am a part. yay. anyway, when i think "middle class" i don't think "pompous." i think "unremarkable" or "regular folks." when i think "pompous" i think the abstract stereotype of the privileged new england preppie.

i don't get it.