Comments on: Pish posh.

By: Jake Miller

Jake Miller — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 02:06:24 +0000

Dear Folks,

Happily, I recently made the call, took a deep breath and ordered all twenty glorious Volumes of the OED, which now are just behind me and with one 180-degree spin of my swiveling desk chair, are before me, and thus I’m able to merrily seek all adjectives and adverbs that adequately describe them.

“Pish” was used as early as 1592 an exclamation for contempt and also as a form of “piss”. “Tosh” meant neat and tidy in 1776, but later meant rubbish and twaddle in 1892, and was used as a school slang verb for splashing. Thus there were, no doubt, young lads who used combined the two to mean a “piss bath.”

Ain’t Language Grand?

Pax et Spes, john

By: Charlie

Charlie — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 05:34:29 +0000

Moliere really pumps my nads.

By: Larkin Vonalt

Larkin Vonalt — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 03:58:09 +0000

Stuart Land– I suggest that in order to find colloquialisms and idiosyncratic speech particular to a certain time or place that you spend some time browsing in popular literature from the same period. Moliere can give you a certain sense of 17th c. France, or Jane Austen for late 18th c. England. For the civil war period, you might look into Harriet Beecher Stowe, or Nathaniel Hawthorne– but be sure not to overlook dime novels and domestic fiction, both of which were extremely popular at the time and may have more “popular language” usage than the work of what we now consider “great writers.” Here’s a link that might be helpful http://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/domestic.htm

By: MARK BARKER

MARK BARKER — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:16:51 +0000

Stuart Land
March 15th, 2009 at 1:16 pm · Reply
Hi. Great site. As a writer, I often (mostly) look for words used within a certain time frame (like civil war era) so that I know I’m being authentic. How can I make searches that will turn up words like these? Also, I may know a word or phrase in the modern context, like “Holy cow!”, but how do I find its equivalent in say, 1790? thanks for any advice.

I found Stuard’s query rather intriging – “It has been left unanswered – I hope someone will address it DIRECTLY and with factual or plausable authority!”

By: John

John — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 17:41:08 +0000

It seems pish-tosh is actually better–a more gentile way of saying Balderdash; and, Jon, yes, posh is an acronym for Port Out-Starboard Home. Okay. Maybe no longer BS, but rather “hogwash.”

By: John

John — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 17:37:40 +0000

It seems pish-tosh is actually better–a more gentile way of saying BS; and, Jon, yes, posh is an acronym for Port Out-Starboard Home.

By: Jon

Jon — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 05:17:48 +0000

POSH, or reference for things “fancy” comes from a statement of preference in ocean-going travel from England to India a century ago. POSH is an acronym for “Portside Out, Starboard Home”. POSH accommodations meant a change of cabins so that the guest would have shady, cooler(north-facing, portside) accommodations for the eastbound trip to India and then switch to starboard for a shady ride home…

By: roland delicio

roland delicio — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 01:14:49 +0000

re: Pish posh, pishposh
I am currently reading H.L.Mencken’s ‘Prejudices’ in the Library of America edition. Pishposh is used by Mencken as a dismissive on every third page, it seems.

By: Frank

Frank — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 18:29:40 +0000

My grandparents used the phrase pish ‘n tosh to mean something that was silly or not true

By: Stuart Land

Stuart Land — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 18:16:40 +0000

Hi. Great site. As a writer, I often (mostly) look for words used within a certain time frame (like civil war era) so that I know I’m being authentic. How can I make searches that will turn up words like these? Also, I may know a word or phrase in the modern context, like “Holy cow!”, but how do I find its equivalent in say, 1790? thanks for any advice.