Saturday, January 31, 2009

POSH and POSH NOSH

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posh_Nosh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzjR0yL4f0Y

Most of the Posh Nosh episodes are on You Tube – see the second link.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Out,_Starboard_Home

Port Out, Starboard Home (or Port Outward, Starboard Home) is a phrase popularly believed to provide the etymology for the word posh. According to this belief, "Port Out" and "Starboard Home" were the most desirable cabin locations on ships traveling to and from British colonies in the Far East before the development of air conditioning, because they were shaded from the sun in both directions. However, extensive searching of shipping company records and tickets from that period has failed to reveal any evidence for explicit "Port Outbound, Starboard Home" reservations or other occurrences of the phrase.[1]
This popular but baseless etymology is illustrated by a song in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The song "Posh!" includes the lyrics:
"Whenever I'm bored I travel abroad but ever so properly
Port Out, Starboard Home, posh with a capital P-O-S-H, posh."
The true origin of the word posh is obscure. It appears in 1890 in the book A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant by Albert Barrère & Charles Godfrey Leland, but with a definition of "modern term for money, originally used for a halfpenny or small coin. From the gypsy pash or posh, a half." It also gives a final definition of "A Dandy.." in the entry. This publication, in two volumes, had only 675 copies printed by Ballanyne Press for subscribers. The first widely published use of the word was in the British satirical magazine Punch on 25 September 1918, although an earlier possible reference uses the word push.[1] It does occur earlier as the surname of a character in Diary of a Nobody, first serialised in 1888-89.

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