<P> Keeping up with the Joneses is an idiom in many parts of the English - speaking world referring to the comparison to one's neighbor as a benchmark for social class or the accumulation of material goods . To fail to "keep up with the Joneses" is perceived as demonstrating socio - economic or cultural inferiority . The phrase originated in a comic strip of the same name . </P> <P> The phrase originates with the comic strip Keeping Up with the Joneses, created by Arthur R. "Pop" Momand in 1913 . The strip ran until 1940 in The New York World and various other newspapers . The strip depicts the social climbing McGinis family, who struggle to "keep up" with their neighbors, the Joneses of the title . The Joneses were unseen characters throughout the strip's run, often spoken of but never shown . The idiom keeping up with the Joneses has remained popular long after the strip's end . </P> <P> Use of the name Jones for neighbors involved in social comparison predates Momand's comic strip . In 1879, English writer E.J. Simmons wrote in Memoirs of a Station Master of the railroad station as a place for social exchange: "The Joneses, who don't associate with the Robinsons, meet there ." American humorist Mark Twain made an allusion to Smith and Jones families with regard to social custom in the essay "Corn Pone Opinions," written in 1901 but first published in 1923 . "The outside influences are always pouring in upon us, and we are always obeying their orders and accepting their verdicts . The Smiths like the new play; the Joneses go to see it, and they copy the Smith verdict ." Starting in 1908, D.W. Griffith directed a series of comedy shorts starring The Biograph Girl, Florence Lawrence, featuring the people next door, The Joneses . </P>

Where did the phrase keeping up with the jones come from