Tibet and China poll at Prospere Magazine

Prospere Magazine is asking whether making Tibet a Special Administrative Region (SAR) is a good idea…

Good Ol’ Boys and Old Boys’ Club/Network: NOT THE SAME THING

I’ve seen many posts around the Internet which seem to equate Good Ol’ Boys with the Old Boys’ Club, including this Wikipedia entry. This is NOT TRUE. Wikipedia’s definition of a Good Ol’ Boy (different from the previous link) is: Northern/Western-European descent, who lives in a rural area and/or subscribes to a traditionally “rural” lifestyle. The Good Ol’ Boy is synonymous with, yes, you’ve got it, WHITE TRASH.

Meanwhile, a member of the Old Boys’ Club/Network (not the Good Ol’ Boys’ Network….this doesn’t really exist) is the opposite. They’re historically white too, but these people are educated, wealthy and have influence in businesses, politics, etc.  Often, they have official organizations where they network (which is how they make connections and have an easier time moving up in terms of career). They are also main line Protestants (Anglican/Episcopalian, Congregationalist, Presbyterians, etc) rather than members of an Evangelical church. They generally come from certain schools. This term comes from the United Kingdom, where many top “public” (read: private and boarding) schools use the term “Old Boy” for their alumni. This term is also used in many Commonwealth countries. Also, many UK/Commonwealth girls’ schools call their alumnae, “Old Girls” and the term isn’t insulting to these schools’ grads. In fact, many are PROUD to be Old Girls of X school.

Do you think there’s a reason why people are confused? Or are only people in North America, where the term “Old Boy” and “Old Girl” aren’t generally used (especially in the US, since even Exeter and Andover won’t use Old Boys/Old Girls for its grads)?