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?

AscOT not posh
AScut posh

Hth

@unchienandalusia

AscOT not posh AScut posh

Hth

That's the same with layer;
Lair - posh
Lay-ya - common as muck

sweater v jumper? nope, its a pullover or pullywooly here too.

@unchienandalusia

Well the term posh is itself very common. Make of that what you will.

Yes!

It's entirely about accent (and language).

Which usually comes from education and parents.

Nothing to do with money or status.

Its definitely very relative. People comment that I'm posh and it's literally just because I live in the north east with a more southern accent. Very low bar where I live to be considered posh

The word posh is derogatory. If you mean upper class English then it is being able to trace your family history back to Norman times, having a few drinkers/gamblers in the family, being worried about inheritance tax and a possible future mansion tax, the right accent, the right public school education, the right clothes for the occasion - definitely not too dressed up in a casual setting and just right in the Royal box at Ascot/a wedding etc/happy to wear a gown at oxbridge and a stiff collar all through secondary school and happy to eat supper with different cutlery etc etc and hair is quite important too. Shiny and well kept etc. Definitely a love of animals etc esp dogs. An upper class person knows another upper class person straight away and tends to be very comfortable and confident in their own skin and will know lots of other upper class people. And that is the thing that defines upper class people in lots of different countries - their families have been established for centuries and they all know each other. That is why socialisation with each other from an early age is so important to them and why you have all the important events in the social calendar etc and London clubs, shooting etc

"Inbreeding Toffs"

Its subjective really its probably a combination of things,accumulative effect if you like, but accent , children at boarding school or private school and having gone to private or boarding school yourself, family money/ background, professional job, exclusive hobbies like polo or sailing , big house, second home , expensive cars calling your parents mummy and daddy when an adult , employing people to do stuff for you like cleaning,gardening, ironing ....

Plummy voice
Only buy organic
Get a turkey from their rich farmer friends who own a mansion and run a super expensive exclusive members only farmshop
Skiing for a month annually
Getting driven and collected from right outside the door of shops, pubs, everything. No fussing with parking.
Only cooking if they want to. Otherwise, someone else sorts it.
Don't do food shopping as it's boring.
Don't shop at primark, HB, poundland or any of those shops that I love.
Employ a gardener
Summer holiday for a month in a villa next to the sea, with a butler and private swim up and gazebo. Money buys personal space, choice and peace.
Lovely hairdresser.
Winters in Barbados... When not skiing.
Lots of pets... That someone else cares for
Horses... As above
Private boarding school
No money worries..
Private health care
Catered parties

I'm from the Home Counties but live in the southwest. Locals think I'm posh because I don't sound as though I'm from round here. That's because I'm not!

Posh to me is the aristocracy and landed gentry. Old money titled families who’ve had a large stately home or country pile passed down from generation to generation.

It's pejorative. As is "common".

If you use the word posh, then you clearly arent. Posh people talk about smart schools etc.
I work with a lot of them and it sounds stereotypical but the older men DO wear a uniform of coloured trousers, checked shirt, regimental tie, woollen pullover or sleeveless tank top thing. A tweed jacket, which is called a coat. They all know how to ride and ski. They shoot. They have usually black labs.
I've just described the senior management team in my office!

Actually I should add that they all have impeccable manners and are lovely, if a little...insular.

@RosesAndHellebores

Oh I don't know *@MammaMiaWallace* - I had a house mate in the early 80s from a Continental country although her parents lived in the UK. They were comfortable rather than wealthy. She curated herself as very posh and is now by marriage in Burke's Peerage. However, despite that she is and was a crashing snob and is not posh iyswim.

Yes good point - I was going to qualify by saying from birth/both parents listed but thought I’d sound like a knob 😂

Why do people on here always fawn over posh people saying they have good manners and are kind to everyone? 😂

I think of people like Jacob Rees Mogg and Prince Andrew etc who don't give a flying shit about treating people with kindness.

The poshest person I know was the husband of a relative of mine. He is proper old money, they live in his country estate and meet all the 'scruffy posh with labrador and old banger' stereotype. The last time we went to a party they hosted he bored onnnn and onnn about money, and himself, and money, and himself. With a bit of benefit bashing thrown in for good measure . It was nauseatingly obvious how much better he thought he was than 'normal' people.

@Sprockerdilerock

Why do people on here always fawn over posh people saying they have good manners and are kind to everyone? 😂

I think of people like Jacob Rees Mogg and Prince Andrew etc who don't give a flying shit about treating people with kindness.

The poshest person I know was the husband of a relative of mine. He is proper old money, they live in his country estate and meet all the 'scruffy posh with labrador and old banger' stereotype. The last time we went to a party they hosted he bored onnnn and onnn about money, and himself, and money, and himself. With a bit of benefit bashing thrown in for good measure . It was nauseatingly obvious how much better he thought he was than 'normal' people.

It’s hilarious- same as the posters here desperately trying to signal that they are part of that set. We see you

@Chimeraforce

We have many of those markers except DH is working class from the local comp. However, unlike me his name predates the Norman's .

It's all a load of old boilleaux really.

I usually use the word posh to describe something ostentatious that I don’t like, so as not to offend its owner .

Haha Imissmoominmama I do that too!

@Imissmoominmama

I usually use the word posh to describe something ostentatious that I don’t like, so as not to offend its owner .

@Sprockerdilerock

Why do people on here always fawn over posh people saying they have good manners and are kind to everyone? 😂

I think of people like Jacob Rees Mogg and Prince Andrew etc who don't give a flying shit about treating people with kindness.

The poshest person I know was the husband of a relative of mine. He is proper old money, they live in his country estate and meet all the 'scruffy posh with labrador and old banger' stereotype. The last time we went to a party they hosted he bored onnnn and onnn about money, and himself, and money, and himself. With a bit of benefit bashing thrown in for good measure . It was nauseatingly obvious how much better he thought he was than 'normal' people.

I think it's depressing that us plebs are often so easily impressed by the JRM types of this world. This "I know my place" attitude that persists. Is it wired in the British cultural dna?

I agree re fawning

If any group is said to ‘not care what anyone thinks’ etc etc it’s this one

Posh is an insult, (which I have received over the years).

So, not something anyone will aspire to..