where did the word posh come from. first person to get it right gets 10 points?

Answer 1

I think it stands for:-

Port Out, Starboard Home

Answer 2

In American English, "posh" is usually used to describe luxury objects -- the interior of a Rolls Royce, for example, might be called posh. In British English, the same meaning for objects and styles holds, but people can also be posh (although not "a posh" as in the original usage), by which it is meant that they display both wealth and upper-class tastes. Often there is some implication of ostentation or snobbery in such a description, and it is usually used in a derogatory sense.

POSH can also be a four letter acronym, abbreviating "Parent Over Shoulder." However, this is a very rarely used internet slang term.

The origin of the word is obscure. The first recorded use of the word was in the British satirical magazine Punch on 25 September 1918, although an earlier possible reference uses the word push. The OED (Oxford English Dictionary)records a definition of the word as a noun from 1890, meaning "a dandy".

A popular but false etymology states the expression originated from the phrase "Port Out, Starboard Home", which, before air-conditioning, were allegedly the most desirable cabin locations on ships travelling to and from British colonies in the Far East because they were shaded from the sun in both directions. However, extensive searching of shipping company records and tickets from that period has failed to reveal any evidence for explicit "Port Out, Starboard Home" reservations.

This false definition is not helped by a song in the musical version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The song P.O.S.H. including the lyrics:

"Whenever I'm bored I travel abroad but ever so properly,
"Port out, starboard home, posh with a capital P-O-S-H, posh."

Answer 3

The story goes that the more well-to-do passengers travelling to and from India used to have POSH written against their bookings, standing for 'Port Out, Starboard Home' (indicating the more desirable cabins, on the shady side of the ship). Unfortunately, this story did not make its appearance until the 1930s, when the term had been in use for some twenty years, and the word does not appear to have been recorded in the form 'P.O.S.H.', which would be expected if it had originated as an abbreviation. Despite exhaustive enquiries by the late Mr George Chowdharay-Best, researcher for the OED, including interviews with former travellers and inspection of shipping company documents, no supporting evidence has been found.

Answer 4

Posh is not a word, it is in fact an abbreviation P.O.S.H.
In the days of the British Empire it was commonplace for English families to travel regularly to India. In those days the method of travel was by steam ship and the journey very long.
Unaccustomed to the heat, the journey would prove arduous for most English people leaving a much colder climate.
So if you had sufficient money you could book a cabin on the shady side of the ship. It did cost rather more to do this as there was a great demand for this facility.
This meant a Port cabin on the way over and a Starboard cabin on the return trip back home.
So the booking clerk would abbreviate this to P.O.S.H. on all travel documents, Meaning Port Over and Starboard Home.

Answer 5

The origin of the word is obscure. The first recorded use of the word was in the British satirical magazine Punch on 25 September 1918, although an earlier possible reference uses the word push [4]. The OED records a definition of the word as a noun from 1890, meaning "a dandy".

A popular but false etymology states the expression originated from the phrase "Port Out, Starboard Home", which, before air-conditioning, were allegedly the most desirable cabin locations on ships travelling to and from British colonies in the Far East because they were shaded from the sun in both directions. However, extensive searching of shipping company records and tickets from that period has failed to reveal any evidence for explicit "Port Out, Starboard Home" reservations. [1][2][4].

The prevalence of this false etymology is somewhat encouraged by a song in the musical version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The song P.O.S.H. includes the lyrics:

"Whenever I'm bored I travel abroad but ever so properly,
"Port out, starboard home, posh with a capital P-O-S-H, posh."

Answer 6

The origin of the word is obscure. The first recorded use of the word was in the British satirical magazine Punch on 25 September 1918, although an earlier possible reference uses the word push [4]. The OED records a definition of the word as a noun from 1890, meaning "a dandy".

A popular but false etymology states the expression originated from the phrase "Port Out, Starboard Home", which, before air-conditioning, were allegedly the most desirable cabin locations on ships travelling to and from British colonies in the Far East because they were shaded from the sun in both directions. However, extensive searching of shipping company records and tickets from that period has failed to reveal any evidence for explicit "Port Out, Starboard Home" reservations

Answer 7

Definitions
posh (colloq)
adj

1. High-quality, expensive, smart or stylish.

Thesaurus: luxurious, sumptuous, lavish, opulent, deluxe, grand, classy, exclusive, select, ritzy, swanky (slang), stylish, smart, high-class, upper-class; Antonym: cheap, inferior.
2. Upper-class.

adverb

1. In a way associated with the upper class.

Example: Bert talks posh when he's on the telephone
verb

poshed, poshing
1. To smarten it up.

Form: posh something up (always)
Etymology: 20c: popularly thought to be an acronym of port outward starboard home, which was the most desirable position of cabins when sailing to and from the East, but more likely perhaps to be related to obsolete posh a dandy.

I DONT KNOW HOW MUCH THIS HELPS BUT I JUST THOUGHT I WOULD GIVE IT A TRY

Answer 8

The theory now accepted by most authorities is, in a way, the most exotic. "Posh" is an actual word in Romany, the language of the Gypsies, meaning "half." Evidently the word originally entered the argot of England's underworld in the 17th century in such compounds as "posh-houri," meaning "half-pence," and soon became a slang term for money in general. From there it was a short hop to meaning "expensive" or "fancy."

Answer 9

it is said to have come from the expression 'port out, starboard home' which meant the cooler (and therefore more expensive) side of the ship on the passage to and from india in the 19th century.
there are other possible explanations but this seems the most plausible.

Answer 10

it means fashionable and is the acronym for Port Out, Starboard Home, referring to the time when Indian belonged to britian, and the people traveling where wanted the shady side of the ship both going and coming

Answer 11

posh = short version of posterior (aka butt) because posh people are a pain in the butt.