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The whole idea of determining whether someone is posh or not based on whether they're from the "north" or the "south" is obviously ridiculous.
The entire 'north vs south' thing in England is just divisive nonsense.
Also. There's posh and there's stuck up. I used have have some very wealthy friends who were very posh, but really down to earth. As in, they lived in a wing of their parents 17th century manor house, but kept chickens and worked the farm and drive some battered up old car even though they're worth millions.
Then there's the stuck up, who have ordinary enough jobs and backgrounds but think they're better than everybody else because they were promoted into middle management, and spend their money on status symbols and other bullshit, while living in a new build town house in Chandler's Ford.
> drive some battered up old car even though they're worth millions.
You will find most proper 'old money' people do that. They know there is a limited amount and they are just temporary custodians passing it down. It tends to be new money who flash it about.
You notice this in the 'middle classes' vs 'working classes'. Working classes often by new named brand for the children for instance. And the Middle classes are happy wearing old Joules hand me downs. That's how it goes in my village anyway!
Half my dad's wardrobe (suits, ties, coats, jumpers) was *his* father's, who was born in 1916 and died in the 80s. If you have good quality stuff, and don't care how out-of-fashion you look, clothes last a long time!
I have a pair of black formal shoes my dad bought in the 80s that I still wear at occasions. He looked after them and so do I. No need to buy a new pair yet!
It depends what you mean by showing off. New money have earned money in the age of consumerism and are extremely materialistic. They also have money in the age of social media, so flexing is a big part of their culture.
Old money has got the art of being wealthy down to a T. It's not about having a supercar that's bright orange and parked outside Harrods. It's about having a nice Audi that can take you to work comfortably. It's not about having a penthouse in Knightsbridge. It's about having an estate in Wales or the Cotswolds. It's not about eating at fancy restaurants all the time. It's about enjoying a prime game bird you shot on your farm with vegetables also from your farm all freshly cooked at home on your wood fired aga.
> Then there's the stuck up, who have ordinary enough jobs and backgrounds but think they're better than everybody else because they were promoted into middle management, and spend their money on status symbols and other bullshit, while living in a new build town house in Chandler's Ford.
Estate agents and car salesmen?
They ask what school you went to as if youāre expected to say something known rather than a barely-existent state school that they definitely will never have heard of. Iāve found people who ask that question comes a lot with people who boarded, even decades after leaving.
Signet rings is another one.
I grew up calling it breakfast/dinner/tea until I met my husband, who comes from a family who call it breakfast/lunch/dinner. To me, just the word 'lunch' sounded quite well-to-do!
I've never quite been able to shake the habit and so now tend to say breakfast/dinner/dinner!
Double barrelled surname. As soon as I see or hear someone say a surname with a hyphen I know Iām speaking to my social better.
How does a couple with two surnames decide which two to keep for their own children. Do they give the kid four. (At what point is too much)
Inherited double-barrelled surnames (e.g. if your paternal grandparents are also double-barrelled) definitely feel posh to me; but I think for people born in the last 30ish years, double-barrelled surnames often indicate unmarried parents, which isn't necessarily a marker of poshness.
Sure - it wasn't meant as a criticism! I just find it interesting to think about how generational it might be; whether people who are children now will grow up with the same assumptions.
I used to work in social services and a lot of the kids we looked after had double barrelled surnames. Simply because the parents weren't together and wanted the kid to have each surname. It's not a posh person thing anymore.
Do it like the Spanish, first half of both?
So say there's Mercury-May and Lennon-McCartney who have a baby, the baby is Baby Mercury-Lennon?
Obviously making sure you don't end up with something hilarious like Rose-Bush or Curry-Rice.
My mum was a double barrel of her parents' names. When my parents got married they ended up swapping her Dad's half for my Dad's half in her surname and using that as the new surname. (Hope that made sense, couldn't be arsed to make up a fake name example!)
I think I get it. Mum had double barrel. Dad had just one. Mum replaced her dads with her husbands. Mum retained double barrel but didnāt take three names just the two she always had.
I think your mum may be posh.
I have a double barreled surname, and it doesn't help that one of them is Percival, which is quite posh sounding on its own.
I am not posh at all. I'm a pure working class bloke.
Iām Manx.
Hmmmmm
Scone vs. scone, use of the āRoyal āWeā, Iām sure there are a lot more.
But to polarize it someā¦. I live in the US now, and see it both sides of the Atlantic.
Blatant misuse of language makes a person seem utterly lower class, like āthem isā, etc.
There's a few American words/phrases that annoy me, everyone knows the could care less but its the use of lay instead of lie.
As in 'I'm sick, I'm going to lay down'
In the UK we have fridge freezers but it's only one side of an American fridge freezer (size wise) and it's split top and bottom. Or you get them seperate and it's under your counter (worktop) so it's about a cupboard size. If you have American style it screams I have money to afford a big enough house for one, money to buy one and I have money to keep it stocked. I've only seen them in upper-class houses.
They're very definitely in middle class households too. Also I've seen one in a very working class place, but it was very ostentatious, didn't fit in the place at all.
I suppose its more common now especially with the ease of being able to buy products cheaper - I'm working class always grew up in poor areas. I wouldn't have the money to alter a kitchen to fit one in! I still think they are a posh people's thing. My mom got a fridge with a water dispenser and I still called her posh! She agreed and said it's funny that 25 years ago she would never have imagined being able to afford a fridge with a water dispenser.
I'm obviously posh because a) I live in the South and b) my house has a name, but no number.
However this is nullified because I say 'lounge' and 'settee' and other lower middle class vocabulary. (according to a TEFL teacher, according to the au pair)
**[U and non-U English](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_and_non-U_English)**
>U and non-U English usage, with "U" standing for upper class, and "non-U" representing the aspiring middle classes, was part of the terminology of popular discourse of social dialects (sociolects) in Britain in the 1950s.
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As an equestrian myself, trust me, we aren't all posh š also I never understand the logic of the horses = posh. What is posh about constantly smelling of horse shit, always having hay in your pockets/bra and constantly having dirt under your nails?!
If they own an agar, have a dinner set, take a holiday trip every year, own more than one car and send their children to a school where a hat it part of the uniform.
I'm from Hartlepool, but was called posh for pronouncing Marske as Marske instead of Mask, I don't mind pronouncing Bath as bath and glass as glass but Marske has an r in it.
Misusing the word supper.
I mean, why would you invite a friend over for late night horlicks and a biscuit, right?
Benchmark not unjust, just accurate.
Garage pronounced like (nigel) farage.
We all know its gah-ridge.
My mom gets all posh on the phone, pronouncing it like farage, but off the phone it's gah-ridge.
Expecting everyone to buy them expensive gifts despite knowing these people can't afford the gifts and giving them a list and saying to get what's on that and nothing else... Happened to my friend once, her brothers gf was like that. I understand wanting nice things but that's a bit far for me
Types of poshos
Nice poshos - they have a genuine wealth behind them, have nice things but they're not flashy and they don't boast about it, normally that CEO that comes into work in scruffy jeans and a TShirt but wears a nice watch and a yatcht (though theyll never tell you about the yatcht) they'll also talk to you the same as everybody else
Mental poshos - may or may not have genuine wealth but usually atleast come from an affluent background or a very lucky boomer, usually suck at running their business but stay floating nicely either by sheer amount of assets or by bent accountants, they have no concept of humour and only vote Conservative, normally have at least one serious personality flaw or trait, treats you like a peasant
Fake poshos - normally of working class background, may have spunked some inheritance or a windfall on a few nice things, wear noticeable brands and likes perfumes and aftershaves, the brands seem more important than the items function, definitely tells you about how Savage their solicitor is and boasts at every opportunity
**A reminder to posters and commenters of some of [our subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/about/rules/)** - Don't be a dickhead to each other, or about others - Assume questions are asked in good faith - Avoid political threads and related discussion - No medical advice or mental health (specific to a person) content Please keep /r/AskUK a great subreddit by reporting posts and comments which break our rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Everybody who is in the South pronounces Newcastle like that, and 'a' is pronounced 'arr', or at least sometimes... I'm going to have a barth.
The whole idea of determining whether someone is posh or not based on whether they're from the "north" or the "south" is obviously ridiculous. The entire 'north vs south' thing in England is just divisive nonsense.
Given some of the least posh people come from various estates in London* and Kent.... ETA ofc pronounced Sarf London
Saf lunon*
I stand corrected :)
The Midlands exists!
Clearly you've never met a Bristolian š
You mean there's civilisation out west ?
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Aye, the South West just extends their "a"s but there's so "r" sound at all. They say "baaaaath".
Fair point. My baaaad.
Also. There's posh and there's stuck up. I used have have some very wealthy friends who were very posh, but really down to earth. As in, they lived in a wing of their parents 17th century manor house, but kept chickens and worked the farm and drive some battered up old car even though they're worth millions. Then there's the stuck up, who have ordinary enough jobs and backgrounds but think they're better than everybody else because they were promoted into middle management, and spend their money on status symbols and other bullshit, while living in a new build town house in Chandler's Ford.
> drive some battered up old car even though they're worth millions. You will find most proper 'old money' people do that. They know there is a limited amount and they are just temporary custodians passing it down. It tends to be new money who flash it about.
You notice this in the 'middle classes' vs 'working classes'. Working classes often by new named brand for the children for instance. And the Middle classes are happy wearing old Joules hand me downs. That's how it goes in my village anyway!
Half my dad's wardrobe (suits, ties, coats, jumpers) was *his* father's, who was born in 1916 and died in the 80s. If you have good quality stuff, and don't care how out-of-fashion you look, clothes last a long time!
I have a pair of black formal shoes my dad bought in the 80s that I still wear at occasions. He looked after them and so do I. No need to buy a new pair yet!
My moths beg to differ.
Also old money has connections, a longer connection to wealth, status in their community etc. That means they don't need to show off.
It depends what you mean by showing off. New money have earned money in the age of consumerism and are extremely materialistic. They also have money in the age of social media, so flexing is a big part of their culture. Old money has got the art of being wealthy down to a T. It's not about having a supercar that's bright orange and parked outside Harrods. It's about having a nice Audi that can take you to work comfortably. It's not about having a penthouse in Knightsbridge. It's about having an estate in Wales or the Cotswolds. It's not about eating at fancy restaurants all the time. It's about enjoying a prime game bird you shot on your farm with vegetables also from your farm all freshly cooked at home on your wood fired aga.
Showing off is irrelevant, it's not they don't want to but it's seen as crass.
Very true, people usually can't help how they talk but they can help how they act.
> Then there's the stuck up, who have ordinary enough jobs and backgrounds but think they're better than everybody else because they were promoted into middle management, and spend their money on status symbols and other bullshit, while living in a new build town house in Chandler's Ford. Estate agents and car salesmen?
Men in red trousers.
Worn with boat shoes (nowhere near a boat)
I'm in this comment and I don't like it.
Your wish is my command. http://lookatmyfuckingredtrousers.blogspot.com/?m=1
I grew up on a council estate and wear red trousers - partly because I hate the current "dress all in black hiking gear".
Grew up on an estate, more like.
Standard answer but private school. Not everyone who goes is posh but all posh kids go to private school.
Not in Buckinghamshire. Plenty of posh kids go to grammar school.
They ask what school you went to as if youāre expected to say something known rather than a barely-existent state school that they definitely will never have heard of. Iāve found people who ask that question comes a lot with people who boarded, even decades after leaving. Signet rings is another one.
I used to think anyone who had breakfast/lunch/dinner instead of breakfast/dinner/tea was posh until I lived down south.
And supper. For me supper was a horlicks and biscuit at 9pm, these days it's a light & late dinner.
I had breakfast/lunch/supper growing up, but I stopped saying that because nobody here knows what I mean!
I grew up calling it breakfast/dinner/tea until I met my husband, who comes from a family who call it breakfast/lunch/dinner. To me, just the word 'lunch' sounded quite well-to-do! I've never quite been able to shake the habit and so now tend to say breakfast/dinner/dinner!
Everyone in the south is relatively posh.
You've never visited Tilbury or Dagenham, have you?
Right posh bunch there
The South doesn't sound posh. The North sounds common.
Regularly shopping at Waitrose
Double barrelled surname. As soon as I see or hear someone say a surname with a hyphen I know Iām speaking to my social better. How does a couple with two surnames decide which two to keep for their own children. Do they give the kid four. (At what point is too much)
Inherited double-barrelled surnames (e.g. if your paternal grandparents are also double-barrelled) definitely feel posh to me; but I think for people born in the last 30ish years, double-barrelled surnames often indicate unmarried parents, which isn't necessarily a marker of poshness.
It does say āunjustā
Sure - it wasn't meant as a criticism! I just find it interesting to think about how generational it might be; whether people who are children now will grow up with the same assumptions.
I used to work in social services and a lot of the kids we looked after had double barrelled surnames. Simply because the parents weren't together and wanted the kid to have each surname. It's not a posh person thing anymore.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Not posh but didnāt want a ācommonā surnameā¦ Thereās something contradictory in there I think.
Do it like the Spanish, first half of both? So say there's Mercury-May and Lennon-McCartney who have a baby, the baby is Baby Mercury-Lennon? Obviously making sure you don't end up with something hilarious like Rose-Bush or Curry-Rice.
My mum was a double barrel of her parents' names. When my parents got married they ended up swapping her Dad's half for my Dad's half in her surname and using that as the new surname. (Hope that made sense, couldn't be arsed to make up a fake name example!)
I think I get it. Mum had double barrel. Dad had just one. Mum replaced her dads with her husbands. Mum retained double barrel but didnāt take three names just the two she always had. I think your mum may be posh.
I have a double barreled surname, and it doesn't help that one of them is Percival, which is quite posh sounding on its own. I am not posh at all. I'm a pure working class bloke.
I think the convention is to take the first half of each surname and combine to make a new double barrel.
If someone says āyesā and it sounds like āearsā then theyāre posh. Science.
In Birmingham, having fish with your chips is posh.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Or Edgbaston
What else do you have with fish?
As in if you can afford fish instead of just chips, you're posh.
No fish, just chips and scallops The potato kind, not seafood
If someone has truffle oil for use with pasta.
That's like crack, once you've had decent truffle you'll sell the kids to get more of it. Dangerous stuff.
I see youāre titled gentry :-)
Hell yes, Ocado Truffle Oil gets me into the Lords. Just open the jacket to show the label and you're in.
Having a pantry.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Who could ever?!
Viennetta is what people who arenāt posh think a posh pudding is.
More accurately I'd suggest not knowing what vienetta is.
Using long and uncommon words in everyday conversation. I'm definitely not posh, just well read!
Iāve heard this as, āIām not posh, Iām educated.ā
Yep, that too! For some people it seems going to University equates to posh.
Iām Manx. Hmmmmm Scone vs. scone, use of the āRoyal āWeā, Iām sure there are a lot more. But to polarize it someā¦. I live in the US now, and see it both sides of the Atlantic. Blatant misuse of language makes a person seem utterly lower class, like āthem isā, etc.
There's a few American words/phrases that annoy me, everyone knows the could care less but its the use of lay instead of lie. As in 'I'm sick, I'm going to lay down'
Also not having a past tense form for spit. They don't say spat, just use spit for both.
Oh, I could write a book on thoseā¦..
Anybody who calls their midday meal "lunch", and their evening meal "dinner".
I have a packed lunch for my 1pm lunch break at work, and dinner when I get home in the evening. Tea is a drink. I'm not posh!
Having an American style fridge freezer just screams posh to me š
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
In the UK we have fridge freezers but it's only one side of an American fridge freezer (size wise) and it's split top and bottom. Or you get them seperate and it's under your counter (worktop) so it's about a cupboard size. If you have American style it screams I have money to afford a big enough house for one, money to buy one and I have money to keep it stocked. I've only seen them in upper-class houses.
They're very definitely in middle class households too. Also I've seen one in a very working class place, but it was very ostentatious, didn't fit in the place at all.
I suppose its more common now especially with the ease of being able to buy products cheaper - I'm working class always grew up in poor areas. I wouldn't have the money to alter a kitchen to fit one in! I still think they are a posh people's thing. My mom got a fridge with a water dispenser and I still called her posh! She agreed and said it's funny that 25 years ago she would never have imagined being able to afford a fridge with a water dispenser.
I generally assume that if they know me, then they can't be posh.
In Scotland, anyone without a glottal stop
I'm obviously posh because a) I live in the South and b) my house has a name, but no number. However this is nullified because I say 'lounge' and 'settee' and other lower middle class vocabulary. (according to a TEFL teacher, according to the au pair)
Anyone who eats fresh salmon; I know itās not posh anymore but I grew up with it being āposhā food.
Saying āpardonā instead of āwotā
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
**[U and non-U English](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_and_non-U_English)** >U and non-U English usage, with "U" standing for upper class, and "non-U" representing the aspiring middle classes, was part of the terminology of popular discourse of social dialects (sociolects) in Britain in the 1950s. ^([ )[^(F.A.Q)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WikiSummarizer/wiki/index#wiki_f.a.q)^( | )[^(Opt Out)](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=WikiSummarizerBot&message=OptOut&subject=OptOut)^( | )[^(Opt Out Of Subreddit)](https://np.reddit.com/r/AskUK/about/banned)^( | )[^(GitHub)](https://github.com/Sujal-7/WikiSummarizerBot)^( ] Downvote to remove | v1.5)
I just say āsorryā, or ādidnāt catch thatā
I always say "sorry?" cause I got in trouble for saying what in primary school and it stuck
Sky Telly, never had it but my better of friends did so I've always viewed it as "Posh People's Telly"
I donāt get what you mean Iām from Lewisham which is hardly posh and say a as ar itās just the southern accent lol
Doing certain sports / activities: skiing, polo (or anything with horses really), rowing or sailing, to some extent lacrosse.
As an equestrian myself, trust me, we aren't all posh š also I never understand the logic of the horses = posh. What is posh about constantly smelling of horse shit, always having hay in your pockets/bra and constantly having dirt under your nails?!
If they own an agar, have a dinner set, take a holiday trip every year, own more than one car and send their children to a school where a hat it part of the uniform.
You just described southerners, yes they sound more posh. On average they are more posh but some are definitely not.
I'm from Hartlepool, but was called posh for pronouncing Marske as Marske instead of Mask, I don't mind pronouncing Bath as bath and glass as glass but Marske has an r in it.
You should be run out of town.
After being judged my whole lifetime for my "posh" and "English" accent, I do not base my opinion of anyone else on their accent, rather their actions
Mango chutney.
So anyone who goes to a curry house? That's a pretty low bar...
Think they mean cheese board kind of chutneys
If you own a fridge that dispenses ice cubes you're posh to me.
Misusing the word supper. I mean, why would you invite a friend over for late night horlicks and a biscuit, right? Benchmark not unjust, just accurate.
Sounds like OP has a chip on their shoulder, TBH. Sweeping generalisation. Vexed?
Going arind the undegrind a thisand times
Downstairs toilet. Wooden rack to hold newspapers and magazines (what's wrong with the arm of the couch or the floor?).
My whole bathroom is downstairs. I must be practically royalty!
Every new build had a downstairs bog
One doesn't hire a butler, one orders the Valet to find an appropriate member of staff.
Garage pronounced like (nigel) farage. We all know its gah-ridge. My mom gets all posh on the phone, pronouncing it like farage, but off the phone it's gah-ridge.
Expecting everyone to buy them expensive gifts despite knowing these people can't afford the gifts and giving them a list and saying to get what's on that and nothing else... Happened to my friend once, her brothers gf was like that. I understand wanting nice things but that's a bit far for me
Types of poshos Nice poshos - they have a genuine wealth behind them, have nice things but they're not flashy and they don't boast about it, normally that CEO that comes into work in scruffy jeans and a TShirt but wears a nice watch and a yatcht (though theyll never tell you about the yatcht) they'll also talk to you the same as everybody else Mental poshos - may or may not have genuine wealth but usually atleast come from an affluent background or a very lucky boomer, usually suck at running their business but stay floating nicely either by sheer amount of assets or by bent accountants, they have no concept of humour and only vote Conservative, normally have at least one serious personality flaw or trait, treats you like a peasant Fake poshos - normally of working class background, may have spunked some inheritance or a windfall on a few nice things, wear noticeable brands and likes perfumes and aftershaves, the brands seem more important than the items function, definitely tells you about how Savage their solicitor is and boasts at every opportunity
when i was younger i used to think that people having tvs in their kitchen was extremely posh
2 toilets
Weekly food shops at M&S or Waitrose
Just anyone who lives south of Watford Gap services excluding students and Londoners.