It's not just wealth, but status. I was in the UK recently and had an enlightening conversation with a mixed-class couple. The guy sounded like an aristocrat an

It's not just wealth, but status. I was in the UK recently and had an enlightening conversation with a mixed-class couple. The guy sounded like an aristocrat and the lady sounded, well, low-class. They both had middle-class jobs but told me that if the guy was a hobo on the street, most Londoners would still believe that he was wealthy and give him the privilege of it, just from his manner of speech. Americans might claim to have no such social strata, but one can often tell from dress and speech what social class someone is from. Amusingly, I met a young billionaire who tried to dress poor, but still quite obviously spent thousands of dollars on his dredlock basket-hat.