Word Association Check

[akirlu]

Okay, here's a quick and totally unscientific survey. Answer without thinking, also without reading other comments. Thanks.

What's the first word that pops into your head if I say:

POSH

Also, are you a native speaker of English, and if so, from where?

Comments

[drplokta]

Port, yes, England.

[fritz-freiheit.livejournal.com]

Rich. Native English Mangler. Michigan.

[autopope.livejournal.com]

Spice.

Native speaker, born in Leeds (Yorkshire), resident in Scotland.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

Spice (but usually, it would be "rich and fancy" but today's thinking is influenced by this story and this story)

I am a native speaker of Noo Yawk English.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Mr. Steed, from whom I first heard the word (or at least from whom my aural memory ascribes the pronunciation).

Native speaker, New York (the state, not the city).

[hawkida.livejournal.com]

Football, but disregard this. It's the pet name of my local football team and so it's emblazoned across the local papers regularly.

Otherwise I'd be thinking upper class, or Spice Girls.

[timill]

Port (as the first word of a well-known phrase or saying)

Native English.

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

Fancy, yes, U.S.

[daveon.livejournal.com]

Spice. I know, I know...

Hangs head in shame.

[peteyoung.livejournal.com]

Ditto. Native Brit, S.S.D.P. [Southern Shandy Drinking Poofta, according to them ’ard types Oop North].

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

Luxurious.

Native English; midwest USA (Michigan).

[davidgoldfarb.livejournal.com]

"toff". From Oakland, California.

[shelleybear.livejournal.com]

Both "Spice" and Luxurious.
New Yawka (city) and too many other places to mention.


shelleybear

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Luxury.

[whl.livejournal.com]

I have to go with Port, as well, and through my mind runs "Port out, Starboard Home, Posh with a capital P, O, S, H, POSH," sung by Lionel Jeffries.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Spice.

Yes, from England

[jophan.livejournal.com]

Spice. Non-naytiv speakah and readah as well you know.

[liveavatar.livejournal.com]

Spice and vintage. (The latter probably from hearing a lot of Art Deco/costumes talk.)

From the SF Bay Area.

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

Spice. Englishland :-)

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Rich.

Yes, Navy bases.

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

Scarily, it's Spice.

Too much media...

[miramon.livejournal.com]

Git, yes, England

[larcb.livejournal.com]

Spice.

Native speaker, from MI

[kate-schaefer.livejournal.com]

Spice, but I already read your earlier post and its comments, so my hand-knit brain is tainted. Undoubtedly that's why it turned that appalling set of colors.

If you hire a perfect stranger to ask me suddenly out of context some time a month or so from now, I might think of a different word, but what a lot of trouble to go to for such a trivial cause.

[kateyule.livejournal.com]

Fascinated to find that my reaction was not a word at all, but a mental picture of steamer trunk and the deck of an ocean liner. The phrase "Port Out, Starboard Home" came hard on its heels.

Entirely possible that this was influenced by you typing it in all caps.

Native speaker, Pennsylvania.

[bohemiancoast.livejournal.com]

Spice.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Snob

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

The first word (not the first image) was Spice. US English.

[marykaykare.livejournal.com]

Rich fancy uptown sorta thing. That hotel we looked at yesterday had a posh lobby.

MKK-- yes, native speaker of English, spent first 32 years in OK, TX or KS. Have since lived in OH, MI, CA (northern), and WA.

[marykaykare.livejournal.com]

I am snobbily happy to report that spice never even came near what I am pleased to regard as my mind.

MKK

[jophan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, sit there and be smug and don't mind us who writhe in all the anguish that hell hath to offer for immediately thinking of Posh Spice. I don't even know what she looks like! ;)

[marykaykare.livejournal.com]

Down on your knees worm! And writhe!

Hee.

MKK

[fishlifter.livejournal.com]

Can't honestly decide if my first thought was 'nob' or 'snob'.

Native English speaker, from south-east England.

[cschells.livejournal.com]

"Gosh," and "fancy" soon after. Yes, native speaker from CA.

[cluefairy-j.livejournal.com]

Fancy.

Anaheim, CA = Birthplace

[vgqn.livejournal.com]

Nosh. But if I hadn't been unduly influenced by Mindy & Simon, it would have been British.

[vgqn.livejournal.com]

Oh, and yes, from Minnesota. I just read through the comments. No one else watches Posh Nosh?!?

[readwrite.livejournal.com]

God help me, it was "Spice."

Native speaker, grew up in Maryland.

[don-fitch.livejournal.com]

"Posh" -> "Bosh". Probably because I'm not much for pretentiousness. Native english (Ohio/California), with a taste for British literature.

Check!

[ladyjestocost.livejournal.com]

Luxury - Pacific Northwest, southern side of the border, very native

[maryread.livejournal.com]

barbie.

but that's because i have a posh spice doll. her clothes don't fit the others.

synonym, classy.

[maryread.livejournal.com]

oh er yes amurikan.

[profgeek.livejournal.com]

Fancy - Minnesota

[samildanach.livejournal.com]

Con.

Okay, polluted sample.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Port.
(From the old canard that it stands for Port Outbound, Starboard Home - also, I'm a rower, so port and starboard are in my frequently-used vocabulary.)

I'm a native speaker, originally from Philadelphia.

[quirky-teal.livejournal.com]

Response to older post: first word I think of is Port - as in Port Out, Starboard Home - which is more or less what the acronym stands for, if I remember correctly. Referred to Brits travelling to India(?) who wanted to be on the preferable side of the ship - the side with all the scenic - as opposed to endless and watery - views.

(Just browsing, Ulrika. It's been a long time since I looked in here.)

[quirky-teal.livejournal.com]

Oops! Now I'm reading the other responses and realize I forgot to add: Yes, native born (American variety) speaker of English.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Yes, it seems the "Port Out, Starboard Home" folk etymology is known widely, but it turns out not to be true. Various people have debunked it, including Michael Quinion of the OED -- there's just no historical basis for the claim that any of the steam lines from England to India ever designated bookings in that way. People have actually gone through old shipping records to check. But as one can see from responses here, it's still what lots of people think of first.