Keeping up with the Joneses

For other uses, see Keeping up with the Joneses (disambiguation).

"Keeping up with the Joneses" is an idiom in many parts of the English-speaking world referring to the comparison of oneself to one's neighbor, where the neighbor serves as a benchmark for social class or the accumulation of material goods. Failure to "keep up with the Joneses" is perceived as a demonstration of socio-economic or cultural inferiority. The phrase was coined by a 1910s comic strip of the same name.[1][2][3]

  1. ^ Ammer, Christine (2013). The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms, Second Edition. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 251. ISBN 978-0-547-67658-6.
  2. ^ Safire, William (November 15, 1998). "On Language; Up the Down Ladder". The New York Times. Retrieved June 23, 2016.
  3. ^ Markstein, Don (2010). "Keeping Up with the Joneses". www.toonpedia.com. Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Retrieved June 23, 2016.