In 1930 The Times Literary Supplement received a letter in which the writer explained that the origin of the word ‘posh’ was not ‘obscure’ but was actually settled and derived from an acronym. The letter gave a few details: an American shipping term used to describe the best cabins and Port Out Starboard Home ergo posh. That’s it; neither indication as to how these letters were displayed nor on what they were displayed or how they related to the best cabins.
During its passage into general discourse this little tale has gained its sea legs. We now know that the port (left) and starboard (right) side of the ship actually denotes the position of the sun with respect to the best cabins. Steamers leaving Southampton bound for Bombay (Mumbai) and therefore heading east had the morning sunshine on the port side. The cabins were cooler and more comfortable and were thus pricier than those on the starboard side, which received the afternoon sunshine. The same portside cabins were reserved for returning wealthy passengers when the morning sun would be on the right or starboard side of the ship.
Note that at some point in the evolution of the story, the American referent in the original letter to the TLS was replaced with the British. Furthermore, we have the whole business about the sun, absent from the original letter. Still, it remains a fantastic explanation for the word’s true meaning. ‘[I]t conjures images of women in bustles swooning on deck, canapes, servants in white linen’ (Stamper, p.177). I remember once reading about this origin on the label of a brandy bottle and hearing the same explanation for posh from friends at the pub (several pubs). It is however, absolute twaddle.
The first publication of posh dates to 1914* and a book about the British army in which the writer describes unregulated adornments to cavalry and infantry uniforms. Cavalry officers wear ‘posh’ or superior items added to their uniforms. Since posh has also been defined as once slang for a dandy, a connection is there with the military slang. Another theory is that the word is derived from ‘pasha’ an originally Turkish word for a high ranking Ottoman official. But these origins are unsubstanciated. The military book is the only reference and the earliest. It might be military slang or the writer could have just made it up. Hence MW11 describes the origin as obscure. OED12 in defining the word as ‘elegant or stylishly luxurious’ goes on to point out ‘there is no evidence for the folk etymology’ referring to Port Out Starboard Home.
Lexicographers compile dictionaries by collecting written evidence of a word’s use. Etymologists dive into a word’s history also using documented evidence. In the case of the word ‘posh’ there isn’t any evidence for the shipping factoid. No cabin doors marked with the acronym, no tickets stamped thus, no trunks embossed with the legend, no Edwardian ladies’ journal entries regarding their splendid posh cabins.
Credit though, to the original TLS letter writer. I mean, right?
*Some discrepency exists in the dates. The book was The British Army From Within, by One Who Has Served in It, by E. Charles Vivian (Hodder and Stoughton: London, 1914). However MW11 at 968, date publication to 1918. Perhaps WW1 had something to do with it.
References:
Kory Stamper, Word by Word, The Secret Life of Dictionaries. (New York: Pantheon Books, 2017)
Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 12 ed. (2011)
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed. (2003)
