The term posh derives from the time when passengers on liners would have cabins on the port side of a shim on the way out to India,this being the cooler side of the ship and the starboard side on the way back home which was then the cooler side....thus Port out...starboard home..as only first class passengers could afford this luxury it coined the term Posh. It has since come to mean anyone with money.
Port Out, Starboard Home. Comes from the coolest cabins on ships travelling from England to India.
POSH stands for "Port Out, Starboard Home" in nautical terminology. Posh is a word of unknown derivation but there is no evidence that it ever stood for the custom of a Steamship line (usually P&O) stamping tickets POSH to ensure a shaded journey to and from India. There are no examples of Acromyms before the 20th Century the word posh is older its possible derivation is from the Romany cant word for money.
It was reportedly first used in the 1920s when the then manager said he was getting some posh players to create a posh team for the city. Another theory is that the pub next door to the stadium is called the "Port Out Starboard Home", [POSH] and hence this is where the name originated.
The phase uses 2 differing slang terms normally found in the UK. "Get" means of course to obtain "Posh" is an acronym for PORT OUT, STARBOARD HOME. This was a term used for rich shipping passengers who would use the port cabins leaving their destination and the starboard when coming home. This was because the sun was in the port side out and starboard side coming home. The term "posh" was then used for anyone who had a wealthy lifestyle. "Digs" this is a slang term for a boarding room, hotel room or a bed and breakfast establishment. The phrase therefore means "to obtain upperclass accommodation"
I heard that the word Posh originated as the description of a cabin on an ocean liner. Port Out Starboard Home. I think a Posh cabin was situated on the side of the ship that gave you morning sun and this would be on the opposite side of the ship for the return or home journey. Posh therefore meant above average, smart, desireable
"POSH" refers to the days of the British Raj, when rich people would take the boat to and from India.They booked the best "coolest" cabins which were on the Port side on the way Out to India and the Starboard side on the way Home.Thus: POSH = Port side Out, Starboard side HomeNow used to denote rich people that do things in the propper manner.
It is an acronym, originally standing for Port Out, Starboard Home. This was a class of booking on ships from the UK to India, and refers to the favoured shady side of the ship (port = left, starboard = right). On a ship heading east, the port side (left) is shady, and heading west, the starboard side (right) is shady. This was a big consideration in the days before air conditioning, and these cabins were the most expensive. The acronym POSH came to mean rich, luxurious, spendthrift.
The phase uses 2 differing slang terms normally found in the UK. "Get" means of course to obtain "Posh" is an acronym for PORT OUT, STARBOARD HOME. This was a term used for rich shipping passengers who would use the port cabins leaving their destination and the starboard when coming home. This was because the sun was in the port side out and starboard side coming home. The term "posh" was then used for anyone who had a wealthy lifestyle. "Digs" this is a slang term for a boarding room, hotel room or a bed and breakfast establishment. The phrase therefore means "to obtain upperclass accommodation"
Posh or push or poosh, meaning fashionable or splendid appears in Cambridge University slang in 1903 when P.G. Wodehouse writes of a brightly colored waistcoat that it is "quite the most push thing around." The derivation from "Port Out Starboard Home" is fanciful. Partridge prefers to derive posh from a contraction of "'polished."
Port out starboard home (posh). It refers to the sea passage from England to India via the Suez Canal. Before the days of air conditioning the passage through the Red Sea was very hot so those who could afford it always had a cabin on the shady side of the ship, which was on the port (left) side going to India and on the starboard (right) returning home.
They are commonly known as acronyms. Some examples are..LASER (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation)POSH (Port Out Starboard Home)AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)RADAR (RAdio Detection And Ranging)
It is old British upper-class University slang. Generally avoided by the élite since the 1930's. Formerly pronounced push or poosh. Not related to Port Out Starboard Home. See Partridge's Dictionary of Slang.