The expression Keeping Up With The Joneses describes the attempt to stay the financial and social equals of better-off friends or neighbours. The phrase is of American origin, and began in a popular comic strip of the same name by Arthur R. Momand. Keeping Up With The Joneses ran for 28 years, from 1913, and was syndicated throughout US newspapers. Mcmand based the comedy on his own family's real-life attempt to maintain a pretence of material wealth despite a limited income. In 1955, Mcmand explained his ideas: “We had been living way beyond our means in our endeavour to keep up with the well-to-do class which lived around us in Cedarhurst. I also noticed most of our friends were doing the same: the ,000 chap was trying to keep up with the ,000-a-year man. I decided it would make good comic-strip material, so sat down and drew up six strips. At first I thought of calling it Keeping Up With The Smiths, but in the end decided ‘Jones’ was more euphonious”.