Posh was not upper class

IT was interesting to read about perceptions of poshness (The Poshest ways to spend your time, M.E.N., May 30.)

It used to be thought that POSH meant “Port Out, Starboard Home”, indicating the most expensive best accommodation on ships travelling to and from India in the 19th century. Michael Cane might have said “not a lotta people know that!” but there’s no evidence its true.

Yet posh is now thought to mean upper class, exclusive, expensive or even swanky.

Opera and ballet may be considered high brow but they are just different ways to express the joy and tragedy of human life and available to anyone who can afford it; though remembering they couldn’t survive without tax payers’ subsidy or the exorbitant money earned in sport or entertainment, whilst it is sad that “going to the pub” is considered the least posh activity.

An American woman told me many years ago that in America, they “go to a bar to drink and talk, whereas we go to a pub to talk and drink” – big difference!

Personally, I have done both to excess and strangely, talked more after drink, but always appreciated good humour, discussion about this that and the other, or simply the person to person contact; but never dabbled in drugs.

Although some pubs can be too expensive and swanky, it’s a national cultural tragedy that so many are closing! Bill Newham, Worsley