How posh are you?
(and now to something completely different)
Some time ago, watching TV I saw an advertisement for cigarettes.
It did strike me then that it actually was the first I had ever seen on television: It was for e-cigarettes. (made in Germany) A fast emerging branch which does not has the same rules applied to it (namely the prohibition of TV-spots ) as that of normal cigarettes.
The spot catches you with loud colours, hip music and two smart looking models who show you how you can “posh up” your life. The brand tells people to “be free, be clever, be easy, be tasty, be posh”, of which the last is not the association one would have made with the preceding adjectives a couple of decades ago. Normally, you would have had synonyms like “high-class” or “with a stiff upper lip”, those nowadays associated with people like Lady Mary Crawley (Downton Abbey) or one or two gentlemen walking the streets of London still sentimentally wearing top hats on special occasions. So with that very “english” attitude towards things.
It is common knowledge among the British, despite there being no evidence for it, what the original meaning of “posh” is supposed to have been:
On ships travelling from India to England and back again in the 19th century, it was more comfortable for the travellers to have a cabin on the cooler side of the ship which were ultimately the more expensive ones. They lay on the port side on the way to India and on the starboard side on the way back: Port Out, Starboard Home.
The slight shift in meaning from “high class” and “luxurious” to “trendy” and “chic” in the cigarette commercial shows the general direction in which public opinion is going. The old, “english”, snobby attitude gets thrown out and here comes a new, smart, quirky kind of lifestyle that the people desire. Bye bye Downton Abbey and welcome to the spirit of the 10s.
