Loving the common thread so much thought we should go “POSH”

grandMattie

My family was terribly grand. We had to have our friends vetted and their pedigree thoroughly checked before being allowed to play with them! Can you imagine?
Loads of servants, a nanny…. But that was how life was in the Colonies
Then I went and married a working class bloke, a wonderful man. Didn’t go down too well at first, then they realised what a pearl he was. ?

I'm wondering if my Aunt was their Nanny ?

When it comes to posh some of the oldest families are the nicest. When I lived in Cornwall my friend and I used to go round to various venues setting up entertainments for people. A few were very old families in houses going back many centuries. They were always the ones who wanted to be sure that we had everything we needed and were always ready to pitch in with the clearing up and washing up so that their staff weren't faced with the work in the morning.

The ones that you might call New Money were usually keen to make sure that we knew our place.

grandMattie

My family was terribly grand. We had to have our friends vetted and their pedigree thoroughly checked before being allowed to play with them! Can you imagine?
Loads of servants, a nanny…. But that was how life was in the Colonies
Then I went and married a working class bloke, a wonderful man. Didn’t go down too well at first, then they realised what a pearl he was. ?

I do enjoy a love story.

I have a set of fish knives and forks, never used them.

Then a couple of weeks ago had some girlfriends round for afternoon tea. Didn’t have any little tea knives and forks, so used the fish ones, they are quite small and pretty.

As one of my friends said as she cut up her scone with her fish knife, “Serves the same purpose”.

My family was terribly grand. We had to have our friends vetted and their pedigree thoroughly checked before being allowed to play with them! Can you imagine?
Loads of servants, a nanny…. But that was how life was in the Colonies
Then I went and married a working class bloke, a wonderful man. Didn’t go down too well at first, then they realised what a pearl he was. ?

To my mother the word posh was common, though she never used either word.
Like sex, it was never spoken of and we were expected to learn what it was by osmosis.

my parents thought that owning a cheque book was posh, and I did enjoy writing a cheque when I came to own one.
I thought that owning fish knives was posh too, and I still don't have any.
speaking in a certain way was posh too, calling a house a hice.
also for some reason, having oriental wool rugs in the home.

My DGC call their mother mama or mumma, nothing exceptional about their background.

I thought most of the Royal Family used Mama and Papa. Think the Queen called her mother Mummy.

Am sure when Prince Charles spoke about the DofE after his death he referred to him as ‘his darling Papa’.

And has also spoken of the Queen as ‘his darling Mama’.

Always felt that ‘Mummy’ was used by him to make him sound more ‘one of us’

Whe Prince Charles was given some napkin rings as a present he didn’t know what they were. This is because posh people don’t roll up their damask table napkins and put them in a napkin ring. They have clean ones every time.

Oldandproud, your mention of swearing reminded me of that upper-crusty family once featured on TV - the ‘F**king Fulfords’, was it?

I've just realized why I was struggling to come up with individual 'posh' things - it's because I think of them as pretentious rather than posh, though yes, I would say "ooh, aren't you posh!" to a friend who suddenly decides to do some of the many pretentious things already mentioned upthread

I've had to think long and hard about this, before answering. I really can't think of any individual behaviours that I think of as 'posh., though i not sure why.

The word just makes me think of it a whole lifestyle:

Posh is living in a large old 'family' home that has seen better days, with threadbare carpets and furniture, speaking with a public school accent, having several smelly old black labradors or spaniels in the house, swearing a lot, being slightly eccentric (what is eccentric could be the next thread!) and not giving a damn what anyone thinks about 'one'.

Actually, I've really liked the few people like that who I've met

I think some of these things can just sound affected unless used or done by actual aristocracy ?.

Calling parents mummy and daddy throughout life

Don’t be silly, my three DDs call me mummy, why not? In France the children say maman and I expect other countries keep the original version. I am not posh at all.

I have napkins in the kitchen, checkered pattern ones which go in the wash and don’t need ironing. Paper ones when sitting at the dining table as I hate ironing linen, except on very special occasions.

Lots of cars then Callistemon . Jenner's offered this right up to the 1980s. Not any more. No Jenner's any more.

What a lovely man your dad was MissAdventure

We had a car, but no poshness.
My dad was a plant fitter: repairing building site machines and keeping them running.
He repaired cars as favours for people in his spare time, and wouldn't take any money.

When she came to Edinburgh she shopped at Jenners where the doorman would park your car for you and return it whenever you needed it.
I don't think she thought she was posh, just canny.
If she had a car, she was posh ?

You're posh, aren't you, witzend?
Come on, own up!

We have white linen table napkins, but they come out only for guests.
Otherwise it’s kitchen roll, and sometimes even for guests, if I’ve forgotten to iron the linen ones, or can’t be bothered to find them in the chaotic heap of stuff that might get ironed when I eventually feel like doing some.

I like that Hollysteers I am certainly dowdy , now to work on the elegance.
Things change though don't they.
When I was a child you didn't take your shoes off indoors at a party whereas when our DC had parties all the DC brought slippers or plimsoles to wear inside.
Now it is pretty much obligatory to at least offer to remove your shoes.
Is this a Scandinavian influence or just that no-one has servants to clean up?

We were never posh . NZ when I was a child was a classless society although some people were better educated than others. They still don't tip there. It is considered very rude.

My mum thought she knew what posh was.
She shopped in Harrods telling us that it was no more expensive and you could bring home boxes of clothes "on Approval" and return them if you changed your mind.. When she came to Edinburgh she shopped at Jenners where the doorman would park your car for you and return it whenever you needed it.
I don't think she thought she was posh, just canny.

She was invited for the weekend in a semi-stately home once and went down on the train and was collected by a "car" at the station.
I asked her how she'd enjoyed it.
"Oh these people, they care about their antiques so much that they don't have central heating so it was freezing cold and draughty with open fires and dogs everywhere"

Posh people call things which are tatty (in my eyes)
“shabby chic” .

To my mother and most of her friends there was nothing good about being "posh".

This may well be because the Glasgow area regarded posh people as people who were trying hard to appear better off than they were. To give an example: if they bought anything in Woolworths, they would tell you they had found it in Lewis's household basement or some similar more acceptable shop, even although we all knew that Lewis's didn't stock it, so they must either have bought it in Woolies or The Barras where they pretended never to set foot.

This may be an exclusively Scottish understanding of "posh" also called "Lah-di-dah".

My mother and aunts would never in any circumstances whatsoever have described anyone or anything as "common".

It was common to describe something as common, and even worse to use the word of a person. I have not the faintest recollection of how they conveyed this message to us children, but convey it they did, without using the word "common".

I have an idea it was done by saying that "nice people don't do this, that or the other thing", but how they conveyed the idea that something was posh, I cannot tell you.

I absolutely loved that little clip of his speech!
It gave me a whole new level of respect for Charles because it was so funny.