What's In A Word?

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POSH

Supposedly, this acronym was printed on first-class tickets issued by the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company going from England to India. The port side on the trip out would have the coolest cabins (or the ones with the best view). Ditto for the starboard cabins on the return trip. Unfortunately, no tickets with "Posh" stamped on them have been found and company records reveal no sign of the phrase.

The earliest recorded use of posh to mean swank is from the 25 September 1918 issue of the British humor magazine Punch. In 1903, P.G. Wodehouse used "push" to mean fashionable. Whether this is a printer's error or Wodehouse actually meant to use push is unknown.

In contrast, the earliest claim to the acronymic origin dates to 17 October 1935 in the London Times Literary Supplement, where it is claimed to be of American origin. The earliest association with the P&O dates to two years later, almost twenty years after the word's usage was established.

The best guess as to its origin is that it derives from the language of the Rom (i.e., Gypsies). In Romani, posh means half and is used in monetary terms like posh-houri or half-pence, and posh-kooroona meaning half-crown. The progression from money to a fancy dresser to swank is logical, if undocumented.

Debunked: "Posh" is from "Port Out, Starboard Home" from Colonial English days.

References:

• AFU Archive: Etymology of Posh
• Merriam-Webster New Book of Word Histories