So... let me see if I have got this right.

Folk belongs to the working classes because the middle classes can read and write?

When I left the pit and got a job with a company car, I suddenly became able to read and write! Whoopy doo!!

The more Chateau Royelle 87 I drink, the longer the words that fall into my realm of understanding! Every time I nip down the pub for a pint and game of darts, I forget how to spell wheelbarrow.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Oral tradition rings true. However, linking it to some social status fodder sounds a bit like bolloxology to me. I have no idea what working or middle class means today, and even recent history transcends the lines. When folk was becoming mainstream, class barriers were breaking down here in The UK.

Any better thesis? Or shall we just not get too hung up over it and accept that abstracts and concepts in public belong to and are part of all who hear and join in...

My tuppence, anyway.