What is posh?

How about addressing correspondence to a married woman as "Mrs John Smith" ? That went out of general use a long time ago, but was still used up until I was widowed, by a friend who I would describe as posh.

I went to a friend's house and they had a bench in their garden and she wore a sun hat in case she got freckles.

Everyone seems to have garden furniture now, I have several sets scattered about out there and most people wear a sun hat of some sort.........

'Posh' is often, though not always, equated with upper class/rich ?Or trying to be ?
I once visited a university friend at her parents (huge)house in a very wealthy part of London .Their name was on the doormat(tradesmans entrance not front door),a younger version of her mother was in oils above the drawing room fireplace and she had a (cracked)washbasin in her bedroom .It was all faded grandeur and totally non -pretentious .Just how they lived .I found out years later that her father was a self made millionaire and her mother from a very aristocratic family .To a girl raised in Council house it seemed very posh ,though not intimidating .

As a child...posh meant ladies with fur stoles ( fox furs etc) any friend who's family had a car, palm court type cafes.
Now it means ....anyone with an estate ( as opposed to living on a estate.)

Really posh people are not necessarily wealthy at all. Money can't buy true 'posh'.

Not sure about that Jane10. If they dont have much in liquidity, they sure do in assets. Or/and bonds. Shares. Many premium bonds. Old cars. Paintings. etc etc.

Property, wines, you get the idea.

I agree Jane10. Genuinely posh families can lose their wealth through gambling or bad business ventures, or are living in decaying old mansions that cost a fortune to maintain.

Or is that upper class rather than posh? What's the difference?

Granny activist, no self respecting Italian would dream of wearing a petticoat, their clothes are lined. Now there's posh.

Sorry Ankers I can't agree. There is a lot of faded grandeur about. Posh doesn't necessarily mean having lots of money and valuables.

For us it was those people who could afford and owned a tv. I remember watching 'secret garden' on a 9" screen tv in our posh neighbours house.

My nephew thinks people who have two toilets are posh and those that have more are super-rich.

Growing up i had white socks, petticoats (made by my mother), we ate dinner and supper, spread jam with a spoon and ate fruit . Mum had furs and pearls, we had summer and winter clothes and curtains also a telephone in the hall. Were we posh ? not in the slightest, Dad was a steel worker.Mum just had set ways inherited from her Greek Grandmother.
My step children think i am posh because i insist on please and thank yous !

My DM was nanny to some very posh families in the 1920s - she knew what posh was and we were brought up with white, starched damask table-cloths, linen napkins etc etc even though we lived in a 3 bed-roomed semi. White ankle socks in the summer, knee-length grey or fawn wool socks in the winter.
And no, absolutely no, dropped aitches!
Although she could do a very good Midlands accent if she wanted to.

(no car or telephone though and definitely not rich!)

When I was married to my first scumbag husband, I had a title!
Certainly not posh, he bought it for £15k!!
It was the last straw for me and I divorced him pdq!

Are you still allowed to be known as Lady Lona after the divorce though?
You could get a table at the best restaurants!

I remember being invited to a very posh house. The host rang me and said "it's supper, not dinner" as if i should know what he meant. Was i supposed to dress more casually? They served olives with the drinks and mine had a stone in it. I kept it in my mouth for ages as i didn't know where to put it. Eventually I took it out of my mouth and secretly dropped it on the floor! The women were all wearing trousers with sweaters tied around their shoulders. i was wearing a blouse, so I totally got it wrong. Never again would I put myself through that.

Growing up in the US, I heard it was an acromym

Port Out Starboard Home when cruising/sailing, so you had the sun on your side. Which I later realised only applied if you travelled west going out and east coming back and the sun was out.

Hello all. Have just stumbled on this thread & have enjoyed the posts.
I've browsed on GN for a couple of months now & decided to join up a couple of days ago. Noticing that there was apparently nothing stirring in my Local section, I decided to choose a username which would ring bells with those who live in Peterborough. (Not that I'm a fan, but Peterborough United Football Club is known as "The Posh" or "Posh"). I'm lazy....PoshGran is quicker to type & easier to remember than PeterboroughGrandmama!!

When I was a child, anyone who lived in anything other than a terraced house with an outdoor toilet (like mine), with the exception of those who lived in the post-war prefabs (who were "really poor"), was considered posh. So at a new school classmates asked your name first, then where you lived - then they'd know how to treat you.

Welcome PoshGran
You are on the right thread

Jalima I've never been much of a lady!

For me posh means Chummy from 'Call the Midwife'. Plummy accent, triple-barelled name, expensive private education, calls parents 'mater' and 'pater.' As I recall, Miranda Hart is herself very 'posh.' I was always aspiring to this as I was growing up (not a hope!) I have my foot on rung number 2 of a 100 rung ladder so will never be up there with the posh mob. (Snob, moi, of course not!)

I forgot- when I was young I had friends whose house had a 'day nursery' and a 'night nursery.' (I had an attic). Maybe that influenced me just a tad.

I lived in the south of England until I was eight and then moved to Yorkshire. I was called 'posh' because of the way I said 'bath' and 'path' (bath and parth) I quickly adopted a Yorkshire accent to fit in. Funnily enough when I move back to the south, after I married, I soon lost my Yorkshire accent again!

I think there is a huge difference between being posh and having money. I agree with Antonia's definition - Chummy is definitely posh - money or no money!

My father's parents had lots of money (my aunt spent what grandpa didn't lose before it made it to us ) Granny had a vast house that is now 9 flats, furs, jewels, antiques (she had very good taste) a sports car and was really well spoken but she got her money from running an hotel (as my Mother, Mrs Bucket, would have it) so wasn't posh at all.

Granny piper you gave taught me something! I never knew that I was supposed to spread jam with a spoon!