"sort of" is elitist?

[sagehen]

 My impression is that adverbial "sort of" was a British usage before it
became American.  That could account for this /elitist/ taint that some
perceive.

On another thread----
Gotta go with Wilson on "exQUISitely."  Something about that shift of
emphasis seems to turn it into a patent exaggeration. Not prissy, shrill,
gay.......just overstated. (And if "forMIDable" is dying away, that's fine
with me.)
A. Murie