Thinking About Words: Part II "Posh" Up Close & Personal

It’s time for another edition of “Thinking About Words.”

Notice I didn’t start the preceding sentence with “Due to popular demand.”  Nope, it’s just that time.

After reading the first post in the “Thinking About Words” series,  my colleague Patrick McLaughlin of Caldo Communications suggested the next post in the series take a look at the word “Posh” – meaning sumptuously furnished or appointed; luxurious.

Patrick suggested that much like the word “Snafu” which was featured in the first post, the word Posh is an acronym-generated word.   He pointed out that  the word is an acronym from “port out ( ward ), starboard home” which is  said to be the preferred accommodation on ships traveling between England and India.

However, a little digging shows that there is some question about this being the true word origin.

Miriam Webster considers that British humorist P.G. Wodehouse via an unintentional misspelling might have coined the word “posh”. 

Dictionary.com poo poos the acronym idea totally, and instead notes the word has an obscure origin, likely originating via American slang in 1890.

Isn’t this fun?

Thinking about words is so much fun we might have to call the cops… you know, the word “Cop” is often cited as being derived from the phrase  "constable on patrol” but I don’t have time to think about that.

Instead, I’m heading out to play some golf. (word origin: “gentlemen only, ladies forbidden")