The meaning of POSH - YOU decide!
nancy...@yahoo.com
and find differing opinions on the origin of Posh. Guess no one really
knows... For those really interested: According to "Morris Dictionary of
Word and Phrase Origins: Posh is a borrowing from British slang, meaning
"smart, sophisticated or elegant." Thus one might be complimented on a "very
posh party" or a well-turned out sportsman could be applauded as "looking
very posh today." There is a charming story of the word's origin. It dates
back to the era when Great Britain was truly a seat of empire and her
colonial emissaries were making regular trips from London by steamer to
India, Australia and other far-flung territories. Preferred accommodations
aboard ship were "away from the weather" - port side outward-bound and
starboard side homeward-bound. Abd that is where posh came from - Port
Outward, Starboard Home.
BUT......... The "Arcade Dictionary of Word Origins" says: Although it
only appeared as recently as the early 20th century, posh is one of the
oldest chestnuts of English etymology. The story got around that it was an
acronym for port out, starboard home, an allusion to the fact that wealthy
passengers could afford the more expensive cabins on the port side of the
ships going out to India, and on the starboard side returning to Britain,
which kept them out of the heat of the sun. Pleasant as this story is,
though, it has never been substantiated. Another possibility is that posh may
be the same word as the now obsolete posh "dandy, swell," a slang term
current around the end of the 19th century. This too is of unknown origin,
but it has been tentatively linked with the still earlier 19th-century slang
term posh "halfpenny," hence broadly "money," which may have come ultimately
from Romany posh "half."
AND....
"The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins" weighs in: The
old story says that posh is an acronym for "port outward, starboard home."
British civil servants traveling to India on the Peninsular and Oriental
Steam Navigation Company line supposedly liked to have their accommodations
on the port side of the ship leaving home and on the starboard side coming
back, as these locations were shady and away from the weather. According to
the tale, such first-class, or posh, staterooms became a synonym for anything
elegant or sophisticated. But unfortunately, the famous P&O line has no
record of such an expression ever being used. This doesn't prove that the
ingenious story isn't true, but the term is just as likely a contraction of
"polished" or "polish." Posh is first recorded in 1897 as meaning "a dandy"
and so may also be a corruption of the term pot ("big"), a person of
importance. A corruption of the Scottish tosh, "neat and trim" isn't out of
the question, either.
Nancy in Boston
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