Street credible socialbility/ a shared joke

Posted by Bob on July 29, 2003

In Reply to: Street credible socialbility/ a shared joke posted by Celia on July 29, 2003

: Hi,

: I don't quite understand the phrase and sentences in brackets. Could anyone give me a hand?

: Important aspects of the Sun's popular appeal identified by this group of interviewees evidently include its humour, ['street credible' sociability] and simplifying common sense. As Pursehouse observes: "It gains credibility, almost becomes friends with readers, through appearing to 'talk the same language.'' [The basis of this 'friendship', he argues, is on the grounds of 'a shared joke', although much of what counts as the Sun's 'fun persona' is gender-specific in that the tabloid typically position itself as 'one of the lads.' ]

: Thanks a lot.

Street means working-class or underclass people, the ones who idle about on the street. "Street Cred"in the US is the esteem certain people have in the eyes of youth. The term "Arab Street" is often used to describe the mood and attitudes of Middle East ordinary people, as opposed to the opinions of governments, newspapers, and other "establishment" types. The other sentences speak of the working-class slang used by the Sun to form an attachment to their preferred audience in the (mostly male, mostly young) working class.