What is posh?

When I was married to my first scumbag husband, I had a title!
Certainly not posh, he bought it for £15k!!
It was the last straw for me and I divorced him pdq!

My DM was nanny to some very posh families in the 1920s - she knew what posh was and we were brought up with white, starched damask table-cloths, linen napkins etc etc even though we lived in a 3 bed-roomed semi. White ankle socks in the summer, knee-length grey or fawn wool socks in the winter.
And no, absolutely no, dropped aitches!
Although she could do a very good Midlands accent if she wanted to.

(no car or telephone though and definitely not rich!)

Growing up i had white socks, petticoats (made by my mother), we ate dinner and supper, spread jam with a spoon and ate fruit . Mum had furs and pearls, we had summer and winter clothes and curtains also a telephone in the hall. Were we posh ? not in the slightest, Dad was a steel worker.Mum just had set ways inherited from her Greek Grandmother.
My step children think i am posh because i insist on please and thank yous !

For us it was those people who could afford and owned a tv. I remember watching 'secret garden' on a 9" screen tv in our posh neighbours house.

My nephew thinks people who have two toilets are posh and those that have more are super-rich.

Sorry Ankers I can't agree. There is a lot of faded grandeur about. Posh doesn't necessarily mean having lots of money and valuables.

Granny activist, no self respecting Italian would dream of wearing a petticoat, their clothes are lined. Now there's posh.

I agree Jane10. Genuinely posh families can lose their wealth through gambling or bad business ventures, or are living in decaying old mansions that cost a fortune to maintain.

Or is that upper class rather than posh? What's the difference?

Property, wines, you get the idea.

Not sure about that Jane10. If they dont have much in liquidity, they sure do in assets. Or/and bonds. Shares. Many premium bonds. Old cars. Paintings. etc etc.

Really posh people are not necessarily wealthy at all. Money can't buy true 'posh'.

As a child...posh meant ladies with fur stoles ( fox furs etc) any friend who's family had a car, palm court type cafes.
Now it means ....anyone with an estate ( as opposed to living on a estate.)

'Posh' is often, though not always, equated with upper class/rich ?Or trying to be ?
I once visited a university friend at her parents (huge)house in a very wealthy part of London .Their name was on the doormat(tradesmans entrance not front door),a younger version of her mother was in oils above the drawing room fireplace and she had a (cracked)washbasin in her bedroom .It was all faded grandeur and totally non -pretentious .Just how they lived .I found out years later that her father was a self made millionaire and her mother from a very aristocratic family .To a girl raised in Council house it seemed very posh ,though not intimidating .

I went to a friend's house and they had a bench in their garden and she wore a sun hat in case she got freckles.

Everyone seems to have garden furniture now, I have several sets scattered about out there and most people wear a sun hat of some sort.........

How about addressing correspondence to a married woman as "Mrs John Smith" ? That went out of general use a long time ago, but was still used up until I was widowed, by a friend who I would describe as posh.

As a child 'posh' schoolfriends lived in houses with carpets on the floor instead of lino. Now posh people live in houses with bare floorboards

My aunt had a pearl necklace, her dresses were lined, and she was the first to have a fridge. That qualified her as super posh in a family of sisters who had none of these things!

Apparently we're posh because we live in a house with no number in a Lane in a village, so say some student friends. It's a scruffy farm workers cottage.

Apologies if I offended by generalising grabba, my primary schooldays were a VERY long time ago.
The negative connotations were clear though and I can clearly remember being made to feel defensive.
Then of course, maybe you lived on a posh scheme??

Brought up on a scheme DaphneBroon and never wore anything other than pristine white socks to school as did my classmates. We had a phone and a TV but also a swing and a wigwam!
We were just us and even the people in the 'bought' houses weren't posh. I think posh was really just 'stuck up' or 'full of themselves' people

No mention of 'mif' as in Nancy Mitford's 'milk in first yardstick....

My Grandma was 'posh.' She said she lived in a semi-detached house. Actually, it was an end of terrace.

If ever I tried to be 'posh,' my Dad would bring me down to earth with a "Stop trying to live beyond your station."

I now live in a nice bungalow, live life comfortably, dress nicely and am actively involved in WI! Does that make me posh and from my humble beginnings - living beyond my station.

An expression I've never understood:. "A slap up meal in a posh restaurant".

To me posh is someone who says one as in one goes to Waitrose frequently

Yep, 'posh' for me was fur coats, tweeds and plummy accent. Think nowadays I would refer to eateries as 'upmarket' usually because of their silly prices. Also think it's great that posh is used as derisory or fun. Progress indeed methinks.g

Winter duvets are posh - we just put our dressing gowns on top of the bed.