Stuff 80's people like

I consider myself to have been pretty cultured back in 1983, you know, when I was in kindergarten. However, I must have been too busy entering coloring book contests at local greeting card shops to read the book Class by Paul Fussell. Actually, I had never even heard of the book until it was referenced in this article in this month's The Atlantic. Here are a few quotes from the book, which lightheartedly mocks the 1983 American class system with pointed wit:

Only six things can be made of black leather without causing class damage to the owner: belts, shoes, handbags, gloves, camera cases, and dog leashes

One must learn that fishing in fresh water is classier than in salt, and that if salmon and trout are the things to catch, a catfish is something by all means to avoid catching

The high-prole bathroom reveals two contradictory impulses at war: one is the desire to exhibit a “hospital” standard of cleanliness, which means splashing a lot of Lysol or Pine Oil around; the other is to display as much fanciness and luxury as possible, which means a lurch in the opposite direction, toward fur toilet seat covers and towels which don’t work not merely because they are made largely of Dacron but also because a third of the remaining threads are “gold."

Sound familiar? I just don't know how the author of the Atlantic article could have written such a long piece on this topic without mentioning StuffWhitePeopleLike.