Until the television adaptation of Love in a Cold Climate in February 2001 Nancy Mitford was best known for her ideas about ‘u’ (upper-class) and non-‘u’(non-upper-class) language derived from the work of the philologist, Alan Ross, and first publicised in her essay, “The English Aristocracy ”published by Stephen Spender in Encounter in 1954. Mitford provided a glossary of terms used by the upper-classes (looking glass, bike and napkin are all ‘u’ and mirror, cycle and serviette are all non ‘u’) and her essay evoked a national debate about English class-consciousness and snobbery. The piece was reprinted with Ross’s article in book form under the title of Noblesse Ob

This article in full comprises 989 words but only the first 150 or so words are available to non-members.

All our articles have been written recently by experts in their field, more than 95% of them university professors. To read about membership, please click here.