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How did you define 'Posh' when you were a child?

(94 Posts)
littleflo Mon 16-Feb-15 13:17:26

In the 60s, when my brother brought his first girlfriend home for Sunday tea, she asked if we had salad cream.

Such an item never graced our cupboards. My dad described her as very Lad-di-dah for such a request.

grumppa Mon 16-Feb-15 13:22:45

If she had really been posh she would would have asked for mayonnaise!

ninathenana Mon 16-Feb-15 13:33:12

My thoughts too pompa smile

Posh was having a car. Mum n dad never did have one. They both rode push bikes to work.

Iam64 Mon 16-Feb-15 13:33:14

My mum would have considered it common to ask for salad cream! I can still list the things mum considered "common". Top of the list was pierced ears, something I longed for. I had mine done at 18, dad through a wobbly but mum had her own done…….

Iam64 Mon 16-Feb-15 13:33:34

sorry, dad "threw" a wobbly -

Agus Mon 16-Feb-15 13:39:10

She would in fact have accepted what she had been offered for fear of offending her hosts by requesting anything else.

gillybob Mon 16-Feb-15 13:43:37

Anyone with a car was considered "posh" when I was a child. Likewise anyone who owned their house as we lived on a council estate. We did, however have salad cream (I don't think I had heard of mayonnaise) with our salads, which were an exotic combination of hard boiled egg, boiled ham, a slice or two of tomato and a couple of lettuce leaves. Sometimes we had Heinz vegetable salad which was delicious although only came in a tiny tin. For pudding it was tinned fruit and (shaky) evaporated milk.

GillT57 Mon 16-Feb-15 13:44:03

Salad cream was considered common. ( and tasted vile)

littleflo Mon 16-Feb-15 13:44:59

Mayonnaise!!!!! If she had asked for that my dad would have said " what's that then?"

My mum would have said, we don't eat foreign food in this house.

gillybob Mon 16-Feb-15 13:48:02

I have just recently been reunited with Salad Cream and actually rather like it. Nothing common about it at all.

jo1book Mon 16-Feb-15 13:49:29

I was told never to use the word "posh" as it made you look inferior and in awe of others. I never do, to this day.

gillybob Mon 16-Feb-15 13:53:53

Another thing that springs to mind is that my dad was a miner when I was a small child, he later did factory work and was a "real" workman type. He carried a haversack on one shoulder and wore steel toe capped work boots. My mum put his bait up every night. I considered anyone who's dad went to work "dressed" or carried a briefcase to be very very posh indeed.

feetlebaum Mon 16-Feb-15 14:00:56

I have to say it's a word I avoid - there's a hint of people looking down on those above them... which is a good trick if you can do it.

It's OK, I suppose, in jocular use, e.g., 'I suppose I had better wear my posh frock' or 'I rather fancy posh tottie, what?'

Or maybe not.

Penstemmon Mon 16-Feb-15 14:04:02

My dad's boss was posh! Dad was still a trainee barrister and his boss was the senior in the chambers. I remember going for Sunday tea. They lived in some big mansion flats in central London. I had to carry the flowers and give them to his wife. We had to go by bus and tube to get there! I was made a great fuss of as they were childless I believe. We had well posh sandwiches and little cakes for tea! Posh= no crusts!

joannapiano Mon 16-Feb-15 14:07:17

I was very envious of anyone with an inside loo and proper bathroom in the 60's. Very few households on our estate had one. Those that did were really going up in the world. But we didn't use the word 'posh'. Only in jest.

Retiredguy Mon 16-Feb-15 14:08:58

Watching a very early Corrie.
Elsie Tanner was serving tea from a teapot.
My granddad commented...
" Look at her with her teapot and supposed to be ordinary."
Tea in our house was brewed from loose leaves in the mug, milk ( sterilised) added straight from the bottle which had to be opened with a bottle opener as it had a metal cap. similar to those on beer bottles.
Tea Pot = Posh.

soontobe Mon 16-Feb-15 14:14:38

People who acted La-di-dah.

It took me a while to realise that people who act like that are often not, really.

soontobe Mon 16-Feb-15 14:16:43

The "real" posh person I knew when a child, lives in a big house and mixes with royalty[still does].

Elegran Mon 16-Feb-15 14:29:48

I didn't know any posh people as a child. But once, when someone was visiting and the best china was brought out, I confided to her that "We only use these cups when ladies come"

glammanana Mon 16-Feb-15 14:30:49

I have never thought of anyone as posh we where always told you are as good as the next person and I agree,but I have been envious when I was young and had to share my bedroom with my two sisters and my best friend at school had a room all to herself and they had a bathroom with a shower envy

Anya Mon 16-Feb-15 14:44:08

I thought my mum was posh as she never went out with curlers in her hair.

vegasmags Mon 16-Feb-15 14:59:54

When I was a kid, I defined anyone as 'posh' who could afford a regular order from the Corona pop van.

chloe1984 Mon 16-Feb-15 15:07:54

Any family that ate sliced white bread was posh to me and if your Mother wore nail varnish you were beyond posh.

ginny Mon 16-Feb-15 15:10:18

I don't remember thinking anyone was posh or common. They were all just people. I still try to think the same now.

rosequartz Mon 16-Feb-15 15:10:59

Posh was having a car, a telephone and a four bedroomed detached house.

vegasmags despite not having any of the above, we must have been posh because we had a Corona order and DF had Beer at Home Means Davenports grin
And I had my own bedroom, being the only girl!