What Is The Origin Of The Word ‘Posh’?

When it comes to royalty, the upper classes and pupils at Eton, the word ‘posh’ immediately springs to mind.

It’s a word that can be used both as a slight insult, but, more recently, as a term to say how nice something is - how often have you seen a bit of furniture and said to yourself ‘that’s a bit posh’?

But where exactly did the word spring from - and did it always mean the same thing?

Using the word to describe something as ‘smart, stylish, splendid or luxurious’, was first recorded over 100 years ago in 1914. according to Oxford Dictionaries.

As already mentioned, this is certainly a meaning we still use to this day - but when exactly did it become a word synonymous with the ‘snooty’ upper classes?

Well, not too long after that, as it turns out - in fact, it was used even earlier than that, with the word being used to describe a ‘dandy’ in as early as 1890.

It also possibly derived from the noun ‘posh’ - a slang Romani word that meant ‘money’.

Upper class: Prime Minister David Cameron is regarded as posh for his Eton upbringing (Rex)

As language developed, ‘money’ may have soon started to mean ‘moneyed’ - in other words a wealthy person much like the upper classes who can quite easily be described as ‘smart, stylish and luxurious’.

However, this is merely a theory and it’s not even the most common one when searching for the true origins of the word.

Posh may actually be an acronym - an abbreviation of a series of words that form a new one - and it is said to derive from ships.

When travellers would make the crossing by sea from Britain to India, there were obviously some cabins that were a bit more ‘exclusive’ (or should that be ‘posh’?) than others, and these were the ones snapped up by those who could afford it.

Heading out from the UK, these more comfortable and cooler quarters would be on the port side of the vessel, and on the starboard side on the journey back from India.

So that’s port out, starboard home - or posh.

Adding to this popular theory are reports that P&O handed out tickets for the pricier cabins that were branded P.O.S.H. - but they have since flatly denied they ever did that.

Still, the theory goes that with richer folk being the only ones able to afford the P.O.S.H. tickets, a whole new word to describe them was born.

That all sounds good on paper but there is one tiny reason that this theory doesn’t quite stack up (aside from P&O denying it) - there are no actual tickets with P.O.S.H. branded on them in existence.

Luxury liners: Rich guests on P&O cabins were said to travel ‘port out, starboard home’ (Rex)

Another possible source of the word comes in the form of English poet Edward Fitzgerald, who had huge admiration for his boatman Joseph Fletcher - also known as ‘Posh.

He described Posh in the early 20th century as “a great man” before highlighting his striking features and “strictly auburn hair that any woman might sigh to possess”.

Of course, it’s hard to say if anyone actually picked up on the word to get it into mainstream usage so the Fitzgerald theory is just that - a theory.

That leaves one other theory of where the modern usage of the term came from - an issue of Punch magazine from the First World War.

A September 1918 edition sees an RAF officer say to his mother: “Oh, yes, Mater, we had a posh time of it down there” - essentially to make himself look smart for an extravagant occasion.

But where did that RAF officer find the word ‘posh’ in the first place? Maybe he travelled to India a lot…

Top pic: Rex