I was drawn to the word, “classless” in Carolyn Hax’s answer to a reader in the counseling corner of Washington Post (June 7), which comes under the title, “How do you get back at a loudmouth? By letting the boor talk.”
Asker: What to do, as a full-grown adult, when a classless coward
makes a loud, public and derogatory comment about your mother after
your unknowing mother walked out of the restaurant, where this person
and party were coincidentally seated near us?Carolyn Hax: If you want to take down a “classless coward,” then
give her a megaphone and let her dismantle herself. With no amplifying
equipment handy, it’s okay just to let rude people think they won, to
have faith that people of character know a boor when they hear one and
to trust you won’t implode waiting for the vengeful urges to pass.
I’m inclined to associate the word “classless” in the above quote with the Japanese expression, “どこの馬の骨とも解らぬ人-Dokono-uma-no hone"- A person like a bone of horse who comes from an unknown family – meaning a person whose family line and social class are unknown, therefore boorish or untrustworthy. Yesteryears’ parents wouldn’t have agreed their daughter to marry a lad like a “bone of horse”.
However as far as I checked CED and OED, the meaning of “classless” is just neutral:
CED defines ‘classless’ as;
- Not belonging to a particular social class
- Having no different social classes
OED defines it as;
- (Of a society) not divided into social classes
- Not showing obvious signs of belonging to a particular social class
Is the word, “classless” just neutral on its implication, or does it have a somewhat negative tone depending on the occasion, as observed in the above example?
Best Answer
Merriam Webster lists a third sense
3: crass, boorish classless behavior
The article is using it in the third sense. I rarely encounter the word used of a person in a non-insulting way.