Posted by Peter H on August 18, 2007 at 13:26:27 from 86.144.112.11 user Peter_H.
In Reply to: Re: Do Bohemians play tennis? posted by Prue Eckett on August 18, 2007 at 06:01:10:
'tad' upper crust - not disgracefully rich
Hmm - I think 'a tad upper crust' is rather like 'a tad pregnant' ! You either are or you aren't.
People in town had to have a certain amount of wealth even in order to afford to hire a court and own the tennis paraphernalia
No, I don't think that's true, going by my own family. All you needed for tennis was a racquet - old racquets were easily available - my family had a stack of them in a shed in the back yard. And there was a thing called 'saving up' ! Court hire was not expensive because the courts were provided by the local council as an amenity, subsidised from the rates. (Shouldn't say this, but it was known for people to climb into a court, early in the morning or late at night, and play there free).
only the better off of the working class would generally considered tennis as an opportunity to improve social standing
Yes, that's true, but I was talking about the middle class, which was and still is a very large class numerically. I honestly don't think that possession of a tennis court has ever been an exclusive upper class thing, not even a 'tad'.