Posted by Prue Eckett on August 20, 2007 at 20:19:06 from 222.155.138.171 user PrueEckett.
In Reply to: Re: 'Toff' ruled out (was Amazons Toffs? posted by Dan Lind on August 19, 2007 at 21:45:42:
I would consider, being set in the times it was, that many of the people still reflected the way they were brought up in the Victorian ethos - that is, certain people were addressed as Miss, Madam or Mr, including children, and that there were those who you obeyed without question. Generally these were the local gentry and large landowners and those who addressed them in that manner were tenant farmers and their families, many of whom were or had been in service(look at how Mrs Dixon speaks to Nancy & Peggy). If your livelihood and future employment meant staying on the good side of influential people, then you did it without question. Miss Read's books often deal with those attitudes and how they developed.