What does "posh" mean to you?

[FlatteredFool]

What is it about someone that would make you describe them as posh? I would think it's relative and depends on how much you assign class to people but I find it interesting.

I've been called posh a few times and it bugs me because I'm not posh at all. What does posh even mean? Money? Privately educated? Big house? Second home? Plummy accent? High flying career? Having friends in high places? Owning horses? Private jet? Those things just say to me that someone has plenty of money. None of them apply to me and the people I know that do have some of those things aren't posh to me either. Is "posh" the opposite of "common" ( I know how mumsnet hates that term, sorry) or is it something that can't be pinpointed exactly?

Always looking gorgeous, sounds like a council estate up North tbh. I don't know any rich people who "always look gorgeous". Most rich people got rich by being savvy with money and that includes being able to go without and save money, being frugal. Frugal does not include hair extentions, the latest fashion, fake nails or a manicure, fake tan and the latest make up.

It's only the insecure who have something to prove. Like the men whose identity is tied up with their cars. I guarantee that unless you're a footballers wife or have an amazing top earning career, anyone walking around with the latest ££££ hair extensions, nails, tan, clothes and all the other appearances is probably cash poor or in debt to keep up appearances.

Frugal does not include hair extentions, the latest fashion, fake nails or a manicure, fake tan and the latest make up.

To a lot of people, that does not = gorgeous

Frugal does not include hair extentions, the latest fashion, fake nails or a manicure, fake tan and the latest make up.

To a lot of people, that does not = gorgeous.

Exactly....nothing about that shouts gorgeous or posh to me....

@Countrygirl2021

**Always looks effortlessly gorgeous. Nice clothes Nice car Immaculate house**

That to me sounds like skilled blue collar working class families.

Over dressed, nails, eyebrows and hair all done up on ladies. Michael Kors handbag. Little boys with gelled hair. Little girls dressed as mini teebs. High gloss units in the kitchen and laminate floors. Everything done up beautifully to show they have achieved a level of success and money.

I think the PP was kind of envisioning Rishi Sunak and his wife (that cashmere hoodie, house pristine because the staff keep it that way, etc) rather than Mrs Hinch.

I know lots of people that would be considered pretty wealthy but none of them are posh. The poshest person i know was born into money and goes shooting pheasants as a hobby. I consider that a posh hobby.

I subconciously assess people by what sort of dogs they have. Anyone with a squishyfacefluffypoo is not posh.

I laughed at the PP who described teachers as posh! That’s certainly not the case for me or any of my colleagues! 😂
It’s interesting that others consider ‘posh’ people to have better manners. I would say the opposite, In restaurants for example, it’s usually someone with a posh accent being rude to waiting staff etc. There is a certain sense of entitlement that comes with having money in some cases.

@vegetariandeathcult I disagree - the people I know who have spent time with the Queen at Balmoral have many funny stories about her one-liners and good humour

I worked for a man for ten years as a who I would describe as posh. Gorgeous old house with grounds and tennis court. Horses. Grooms. Regularly went hunting. Housekeeper. Kids at private boarding school. On his second wife. Had a mistress in London. Had connections with royalty. When I left his company at the point he sold it and he made £50million. I saw the minutiae of his life and I wouldn’t want it.

@Countrygirl2021

**Always looks effortlessly gorgeous. Nice clothes Nice car Immaculate house**

That to me sounds like skilled blue collar working class families.

Over dressed, nails, eyebrows and hair all done up on ladies. Michael Kors handbag. Little boys with gelled hair. Little girls dressed as mini teebs. High gloss units in the kitchen and laminate floors. Everything done up beautifully to show they have achieved a level of success and money.

Agreed. I cannot read the rest of this thread. It’s been done and done ad nauseam, on this forum. Your post basically says what it is not. Some people don’t know what constitutes not being try-hard.

The posters who think “posh” people drive around in battered Volvos, dressed in filthy tweeds, never mentioning money and braying loud greetings to the lower orders, are just as delusional, of course.

Sometimes posh people don’t want to be posh.
I remember an interview with the Duke of Devonshire who said he wanted to be called Mr Cavendish.
(Until someone does).

The thing is "posh" and "common" are relative. In my family non-instant coffee is posh.

The thing is "posh" and "common" are relative. In my family non-instant coffee is posh.

I agree with this.

Only posh people have cappuccino and coffee making gadgets

@Andante57 the entire royal family, Boris Johnson, not sure what other posh people are in the media but there are plenty of examples there!

@alongtimeagoandfaraway

I don’t like the word posh. To me it’s the vocabulary of envy.

This! Goes with the ‘who does she think she is’ mentality

Me and my mine have been called posh. My son had severe speech sound delay and a decade of speech therapy means we all sound our words really bloody well 😂

[quote EpiphanySoul1]@Andante57 the entire royal family, Boris Johnson, not sure what other posh people are in the media but there are plenty of examples there![/quote]
Boris Johnson isn’t particularly posh. Going to Eton doesn’t automatically confer poshness on someone.
Also he shone academically. You may dislike him as a person and disagree with his politics but that doesn’t make him thick.
I disagree with Eric Hobsbawn’s views and I once saw him behave appallingly at a party, pushing two children out of the way to get at an ice cream, greedy old man, but I don’t think he was thick.

Everything done up beautifully to show they have achieved a level of success and money.

Yes. Or huge spiralling debts! Some people are so desperate to create a good appearance that they need to tell everyone how "well" they are doing and be surrounded by the latest and best of everything...(even though they are in debt up to their eyeballs and stressing how to pay!)

@Countrygirl2021

**Always looks effortlessly gorgeous. Nice clothes Nice car Immaculate house**

That to me sounds like skilled blue collar working class families.

Over dressed, nails, eyebrows and hair all done up on ladies. Michael Kors handbag. Little boys with gelled hair. Little girls dressed as mini teebs. High gloss units in the kitchen and laminate floors. Everything done up beautifully to show they have achieved a level of success and money.

I agree, all of that is definitely not posh, more footballers' wives innit.

[quote yellowmelon]@vegetariandeathcult I disagree - the people I know who have spent time with the Queen at Balmoral have many funny stories about her one-liners and good humour[/quote]
I’m sure it’s perfectly possible she may be warm and funny in person, but (a) unless the person the other poster was talking about actually knew the Queen, she’s only got her public persona to go on and (b) one-liners and good humour don’t equate to ‘eloquence’.

But I don’t think that posters friend actually meant the Queen was ‘eloquent’, anyway, I think she probably meant ‘speaks RP’.

@FireflyRainbow

Me and my mine have been called posh. My son had severe speech sound delay and a decade of speech therapy means we all sound our words really bloody well 😂

Me and mine...?

@ThornAmongstRoses

The thing is "posh" and "common" are relative. In my family non-instant coffee is posh.

I agree with this.

Only posh people have cappuccino and coffee making gadgets

Yet in Italy, they would raise an eyebrow at anyone drinking cappuccino once the morning is past. Or something!

@Wimpeyspread
So which word would the detractors use in preference to “posh”?

All of our friends live in fairly immaculately clean houses, even if they have dogs. They just aren't all immaculately tidy and once a house exceeds 3000 sq feet the grey, crushed velvet and mirrored look with pale floorboards is tedious to replicate in every room. Wind back 20 years and all the primary parents had Love or Home or things in Latin on the walls. So tedious. "Fuck" above the bed would have been wittier.

My poshest friend has a Picasso etching in the downstairs lav, level with the bogroll so nobody misses it. .