Posted by Peter H on August 17, 2007 at 23:16:07 from 86.130.133.61 user Peter_H.
In Reply to: Re: Do Bohemians play tennis? posted by Jock on August 16, 2007 at 22:15:44:
The accusation that the Turners are 'toffish' appears to be based on just one piece of behaviour by James Turner (for which he apologised totally later), and on the conduct of the Great Aunt. It is quite wrong, surely, to regard the G.A.'s behaviour as typical of the family. It is made clear by AR that she is an oddity, a left-over from a past age. If all the Turners had been like the G.A. then she would not have caused such mayhem when she arrived, as her attitudes and expectations would have been regarded as normal.
In any case, I do not regard the G.A. as a 'toff'. She seems to me more like a petty bourgeois person, and a snob. A 'toff' is quite different, ie 'a distinguished person, a swell' (OED). The G.A. is neither. Case dismissed.