What does it mean when people ask if someone comes from a "good" family? It's a really common Indianism and I've heard all kinds of people (even my folks) use it. I got thinking about it today and figured that I really don't know what it means. What makes a family good? Money? When a girl marries into an affluent family, you hear older people comment on what a good alliance she's made. So are poor families not good families? Perhaps if they were highly educated, they'd be good. What else makes a family not good? The more obvious not good things would be if the family business were of a dubious nature; or if they had wild raucous parties all night, every night, and disturbed the peace! I don't know... Can I conclude that law-abiding families, leading a comfortable life, capable of hospitality, and conversing in grammatically correct sentences at the right volume in public, are good?
And families that pick fights at random, are stingy hosts, speak street lingo, and think money means culture are bad?
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