Eske Esquire wrote:
gbaji wrote:
Wearing hand me downs and goodwill clothes? Check. One black and white TV in the house until sometime around 1990? Check. Parent working multiple jobs and long hours? Check. Cabbage and hot dog slices a common meal? Check. I'm honestly curious at what point someone is acceptably "pretty poor" in your eyes?
You're going to have to do better than that, I'm afraid. I can cross all those off my list, and we were middle class, at worst.
And you did those things, not by choice but because you couldn't afford anything better? I'm pretty sure that someone growing up in a middle class household in the 80s could afford new clothes and a color TV. I don't think you understand. I never owned a new pair of pants until I was an adult and had my own job and bought them for myself. I doubt that someone who grew up in the middle class could say that.
So tell me what makes someone "pretty poor"? Isn't that the question here? Where's the magical break point? If the label is to mean something, we should have some useful definition, right? Otherwise they're just words we apply when we feel like it. To me, being "pretty poor" means that while you weren't starving or homeless, you regularly had to go without any real luxuries. You didn't go out to eat, or have soda in the fridge. If you owned a car, it was a cheap one. You couldn't afford special activities. What else would you think this means? If someone has some other definition, I'd love to hear it.