What are markers that identify stangers or acquaintances as posh? Lighthearted!

[Coffeeandacupcake]

For me, it's a combination of accent, subtle, expensive haircut & highlights or that perfect shade of blonde..

I never really knew what posh was before I joined mumsnet but there are some genuinely posh people on here and they have taught me that posh means:

• passing off a hotel room as your bedroom
• having a communal village pig and killing it at xmas (unsure of the other whole-village activities involving the pig during the rest of the year though)
• eating prawns and baked potatoes
• romping in hot tubs with village vicars
• sundry wicker based village events

Accent. Expensive clothes, big house, kids at private school and lots of expensive holidays.

Lol.

AI strikes again.

Long hair with no parting

How can that possibly even happen?

Bald spot

Proper posh old money = turns up at equestrian events in an old Volvo or Golf, wearing heavy stuffy clothes of indeterminate age or brand. Owner of winning horse, plus has its mother & Grandmother at home. Talks to everyone. Cant remember most peoples name.

Pretend posh new money = ‘arrives’ in giant lorry with side pop outs, and a team of 5 runners up that they recently brought after someone else put all the work in, and will now be up for sale. Wears huge branded Gucci sunglasses and a poker face. Stalks fellow competitors on social media, knows all their history but blanks them all. Vapes.

Like this, look :

and if it helps the op then why the opposition to it ? bottom line people can say they think its x,y,z so if the intel is still of use to the op then its no different than people guessing ??

It’s all brushed backwards, as if it was going to be tied up.

Oh, more like this then? :

Ancient cars.

Dogs
Cold houses
Big thick curtains
An ancient Aga
Gun cupboard
Push bikes.
Wool Jumpers with moth holes
Swishy hair
Horses

Basically: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyacinth_Bucket

Yes that is the correct hair.

You've completely misunderstood the tone and intent of the OP.

@LaSourciereEfrontee quite. I am Jewish and from North London, though not posh myself. By a lot of these old money definitions, almost no one Jewish could be posh (tell that to Nigella Lawson's parents!)

Modern high flying finance types and the like are a different thing. In those circles you are expected to show your money in different ways.

This reminds me of someone I know in Suffolk. Formidable but lovely.

Isn’t the whole point of MN for it to be based on real human’s experiences and opinions? The poster could have just typed her question into ChatGPT herself if she wanted an AI response.

The way someone pronounces ‘issue’ (Rory Stewart vibes)

Iss-yoo vs ishoo?

Mmmmmm Rory Stewart on the radio. Bringing listenability back to Radio 4. Not because he’s posh, but his intelligence and nice calm radio voice.

I can definitely confirm I did not mean posh spice as my definition of posh 😆

I am originally from West London but now in a different part of the south east, everyone I know uses the lengthened vowel for the words Bath, Laugh, grass, that use is standard middle class southern pronunciations. Where I lived and went to school in West London was a huge mix of social classes and very diverse so you would hear that pronunciation regularly in my parent’s circles but they weren’t upper class, they were the educated class and were/are liberal, political and culturally interested in the Arts. I wouldn’t say ‘posh’ is just upper class people.

They are not just groomed for uni, they know which Oxford college they are going to from year 1.

Someone above observed their houses are immaculate because they have staff, and in fact it’s my experience that UC houses are never immaculate because it’s always someone else’s job to tidy and clean so they just leave a mess wherever they go.

Immaculate is a UMC concept as is “smart”, not UC. I know bona fide posh people who say “posh”, “dinner” and “toilet” - as above, it’s code-switching. It’s easy to modify your vocabulary to hide in plain sight, but not so easy to hide the inherited acres and noblesse oblige.

I think that might be true of the top tier public schools.

At the end of the day there are public schools and there are public schools. Most are minor institutions that nobody has ever heard of outside of the town they are based in. They offer small well behaved classes, decent facilities, some nice extra curricular activities and place a premium on getting a place at uni and eventually a well paying career. The parents who send their kids to these schools for the most part are ‘normal’ insofar as being middle class professional types who do not necessarily have money to burn.

Then you get the likes the Eton, Harrow, Marlborough, Charterhouse, Winchester etc. These places cost £50k a year before all the add ons. Yes they offer small classes and excellent facilities too, but you are not attending these schools just for that, you are buying membership of an exclusive club and support network that will serve you for the rest of your days. These elite institutions look down on the minor public schools just as much as they do the local comp schools. If you attend one of these schools the chances are your parents have proper wealth (often of the intergenerational kind), land and the odd title would not be uncommon. The environment that is cultivated between these schools and the families results in children with a massive sense of entitlement, an entitlement that has been nurtured since birth, an entitlement that prevents you from working in a normal career, you exist in a bubble with your similarly privileged peers who see interacting with your average member of the public akin to going on a safari.

How do they know that? They may know which one previous generations of their family were at, and aim to go there, but even if (as in the case of someone I knew at Oxford) their grandfather donated vast funds for the library, they’re by no means guaranteed a place at any college.

The guy I knew ended up at a less prestigious neighbouring college which had traditionally had a longtime rivalry over everything from rowing to the Norrington table. I think he could see his grandfather’s library across the road from his accommodation…