Posh……..a compliment or an insult?

Shinamae

I believe it was a status thing when people travelled on ships
If they were rich enough, they could travel Port out starboard Home… And that was apparently a good thing 🤓

Because those cabins were the coolest for passengers travelling to India etc

Speak for yourself.
That's certainly not hw I say or mean it.

Like Shinamae I was told it was the Port Out, Starboard Home mnemonic - used to remind you which cabin to choose on ships travelling to India in queen Victoria's time. If you had the money you made sure your cabin was out of the sun's rays so you stayed cool. No Aircon in those days!

I think that is irrelevant in modern usage though.
More of a quiz question re origins or abbreviations.

I know what I mean if I say someone or something is ‘posh’.

Not derogatory at all.

My DD used to work for a lady who was ‘posh’ and wealthy, lived in a fine house etc.

But if she had lost her wealth and money overnight, she would always have been ‘posh’.

I was bought up in Watford. When I worked in Northampton inthe mid 70s, I was frequently told that I had a posh accent.
Bought up near Watford,

I think the word is losing its usage now. Young ‘uns would just say ‘wealthy’ nowadays.

My SiL decided we were posh because our trifle didn’t come out of a packet.

One of my son’s partner and their family always refer to me as posh. It’s met with much hilarity from my own family and everyone who knows me

How can trifle come out of a packet.
Wouldn't all the layers collapse?
I wonder what they came in before plastic containers were easily available.
I have a penchant for a raspberry trifle. Aldi is even better than Lidl. I only eat one individual one at a time. Not those big family sized ones.
Who mentioned trifle . . .

It’s not a word that’s usually used in formal or serious description. It’s used in slang or humorous speech. From me, it would definitely be ironic.

When I was in hospital I was labelled posh, because I don’t speak with a local accent. In hospital there are not many ways of distinguishing assumed social status, but speech is one of them. I wonder if that’s the case in other countries, or if it’s a peculiarly English thing?

Perhaps wealthy, expensive, smart?

Unused term as it doesn't pertain to anything in our family.

Am not sure I have ever met someone who says posh in a sneery way, am from Lancashire where people describe anyone who looks as if they have money as posh or anything that looks expensive as posh. As an example when talking to a good friend in London about a meal at The Ivy she enthused ‘that sounds posh’ but was not being sneery at all.

Being wealthy doesn't always correlate to being posh, just as being posh doesn't depend on having lots of money, I think.

I wish someone hadn’t mentioned trifle. My Mother always said jelly and ladies fingers in a trifle was common. We’d have home baked sponge and sherry but we were still working class and possibly more pissed

FriedGreenTomatoes2

I think the word is losing its usage now. Young ‘uns would just say ‘wealthy’ nowadays.

‘Posh’ and ‘wealthy’ are not interchangeable. Think of all those pop singers and footballers who are rich/wealthy, but not posh by any stretch of the imagination!

My actual name is deemed posh by a couple of friends. My mother would be so proud.

Someone else I know calls me Fleur although 'I know it's not your name but it's the only posh name I can think of'!

NonGrannyMoll

Just like "working class", "titled", "disabled" or a multitude of other generalisations, it's just another catch-all word the use of which, because it means different things to different people, is almost completely pointless. But we all use these words, all the time (reasons on a postcard, please - no, don't). Finding one definition is impossible - it boils down to "how long is a piece of string?" Just go with the flow of the subject in hand, bearing in mind who's saying it and why.

I laboured under the delusion that I was lower middle class for years and then the "definitive" BBC quiz came along and I found out I was "Traditional Working Class". I do take your point though.

Obviously, my friends (and people on here) know that I'm not at all posh.

There isn’t anything wrong with being working class.

Most of us of any class try to be the best we can, work, look after family and get by. I think

Indigo8

NonGrannyMoll

Just like "working class", "titled", "disabled" or a multitude of other generalisations, it's just another catch-all word the use of which, because it means different things to different people, is almost completely pointless. But we all use these words, all the time (reasons on a postcard, please - no, don't). Finding one definition is impossible - it boils down to "how long is a piece of string?" Just go with the flow of the subject in hand, bearing in mind who's saying it and why.

I laboured under the delusion that I was lower middle class for years and then the "definitive" BBC quiz came along and I found out I was "Traditional Working Class". I do take your point though.

Same. Working class.

Not a scrap of posh to be found.

Yes I use it sometimes, I could probably think of a synonym, but everyone knows what I mean & I don't use it as derogatory or admiring, just as another adjective.

welbeck

How can trifle come out of a packet.
Wouldn't all the layers collapse?
I wonder what they came in before plastic containers were easily available.
I have a penchant for a raspberry trifle. Aldi is even better than Lidl. I only eat one individual one at a time. Not those big family sized ones.
Who mentioned trifle . . .

I mentioned trifle, sorry.

Bird’s Trifle Kit is readily available in main supermarkets.

My parent would never have anything to do with custard
As having seen advertising posters as child
assumed it was made from something extracted from a bird.

I’m pretty ordinary, same as my friends and family, I think. Though I guess we never know how others see us. 🤔

I want trifle now. With jelly.