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What does posh actually mean in Britain?

Is it about being rich, speaking with a certain accent, going to private school, or simply knowing which fork to use at dinner?

In this episode of the English Right Now podcast, that's what we're talking about.

My name is British English teacher Roy, and joining me to discuss at least 10 pieces of related vocabulary

and teach you about this subject is my dear friend Rob.

Hello.

See, I'm putting on a posh voice.

You did, didn't you?

goodness how are you sensational oh how'd you do how'd you do how'd you do how'd you do yeah

i'm i'm i'm i don't know i feel like i should become more formal the way you started

that it's interesting uh instant now

and say i'm smashing thank you marvelous it's a good point roy actually

when you put on a posh voice yeah you become more formal don't you yes

formality is is a weird one

because it's it's it's i always tell this to students in certain environments it's absolutely necessary

but in everyday life the more formal we are the more distant

and it can actually cause more kind of social problems social distance

if i become formal with you i'm creating a barrier you

might wonder what have i done to upset roy you oh i'm very well rock thank you no i'm fine

but of course it could be it could be down to

my um down to my upbringing maybe i had a very good upbringing

and i was taught how to uh behave

and speak properly you know the queen's english yeah yes okay

so this is we'll talk about upbringing in a moment

but let's talk about that exact word posh good

or bad what do you think

if somebody says oh you're posh yeah would you say it's

good to be called posh i wouldn't want to be called posh no no no

because it has lots of implications really yes um it is

an interesting word i mean firstly you may be going to

mention this anyway about the origins of the word oh no

go for it yeah well the word the word posh actually comes from cruise liners

that used to go from the uk

to america and to have the best cabin with the best sunshine and the best light

was on the port side on the way out

and on the starboard side on the way home so po port out

starboard home posh is that true or is it is it one of those

that is that it could be a myth

but that's what i was told you know what you can let us know in the car

because there's a number of those isn't there

that people go yeah there's a number of those and people go oh and then people I'm going, no, it's not.

It's actually from, I don't know.

So you can let us know in the comments below if that's true, or we'll put something down in there.

But that's a fascinating story.

It's my story.

My story.

Yeah. But posh, yes.

Posh.

Posh can have kind of two implications.

Yeah, posh is you're wealthy, you're well -brought up.

Posh also means you're kind of a bit false.

You're being a bit kind of trying to be better than somebody else as well.

Yes.

We have a word for those sort of people, don't we?

careful careful uh snob uh

which is one of our words a person who believes their tastes background

or social positions uh position makes them superior to others uh

and it's this arrogance this oh such an arrogant snob we sometimes hear it like

that he's such a snob snobbish behavior is like behaving as

though people from a particular social group are lower than them

you know it's like it's like looking down on people yeah

i i don't think the posh itself is a very uh it's a bit derogatory

and i think it i i wouldn't like it

so i'll give you an example i went to york

and there was a we were walking through the streets of york as you do

and this he was drunk actually it was it was in the evening

but there was a rather a drunk fellow i thought oh gosh no

and my son talks to everybody and he started chatting with this man

and i was like oh no he's drunk

and then i thought i better say something i was like

oh yeah we're just on holiday up from here uh we're just up from the isle of white

and this guy went oh you're right posh you aren't you

and i said thank you and he went it's not a compliment uh

but then after a few minutes he realized

that I was just I just had a different accent

and then he realized I was all right

that I wasn't I didn't think I was better than anybody no I have

that as well

because I I come from I was brought up in a town called Henley -on -Thames

so a nice town by the river it's famous for its annual regatta

and stuff very posh and so of course

when I always say I come from Henley -on -Thames they go oh you're you're posh

but I always I always then follow it up by saying

oh I lived the the poor end of henley we lived

in a small house in the poor end of henley which probably a small castle In a small castle, not a big one Yeah,

that's right Barely had two turrets But it's places Places and things have this Connotation of being posh

When it's a very Generalisation, but it's not always Always right So that word posh realistically means Associated with the upper classes Wealth,

privilege, or sophisticated Tastes, but a lot of people do use it In a derogatory way to sort of say Oh, you'll think you're better than us

um we do have a class structure still in the uk

i'd say um it changes from time to time we always

talk about something i always find funny is everybody always says the war on class is over

uh i read a i think it was kate fox she was talking about this

and she said if it was over

why do we keep talking about it it's never over yes

no no we're still there i think the thing the boundaries the divisions have changed

or blurred a bit more it's not as distinct maybe as it was in Victorian times or something like that.

But we still talk about, we still, yeah, have this sort of class structure in our head, don't we?

I mean, I've heard it instead of class, talking about socioeconomic groups and other kind of ways of introducing it.

100

But traditionally, the class system was basically the upper, middle, and working class.

101

They didn't like the word, we didn't, some people said lower class, but we tended to avoid that word

102

so upper class belonging to the highest social class in society

103

or the hoi polloi as they say the bourgeois this kind

104

of you know the the kind of uh tradition it was people

105

that didn't really work or was had money from inheritance we'll talk about

106

that the middle class the middle class which really grew, I think it grew out of something called the merchant class

107

and it was basically belonging to a social group traditionally associated with professional jobs education and relative financial comfort

108

and now we have lower middle, upper middle and then in the past working class traditionally referred to people who did more manual jobs industrial,

109

lower paid work so maybe somebody who worked in a coal mine was considered working class

110

and somebody who worked in an office

111

middle class but you're right it has blurred hasn't it yes yes

112

because i think people well we don't have many coal miners do we

113

but you're kind of your plumber

114

or your electrician i don't think they would think of themselves

115

as working class now they have quite a bit of money

116

for a start they're not quite wealthy some of them um

117

so yes and you have all these status symbols you know the size of the house you live in

118

and what kind of car you drive all that kind of stuff

119

and And the other term we used to use is like white -collar workers and blue -collar workers.

120

Yeah, blue -collar were more industrial and white -collar were office, even though I'm wearing a blue -collar at the moment.

121

And I don't even have a shirt at all, no collar.

122

Oh, God, I can barely look at you.

123

But yeah, I mean, you're right, it's blurred.

124

I mean, in the past, maybe a plumber would have been seen as skilled but not educated, lower paid and all this but these days plumbers they're

125

so hard to find they're so they're

126

so in demand they can charge a fortune there are plumbers

127

earning far more than somebody working in an office job

128

so yeah you're right it's blurred in a lot of ways

129

and i think i think that's a good thing

130

but i think there's kind of this sort of middle working class all punched a bunch together

131

and it's basically how much money you've got where you stand on

132

that scale really uh but there's still anyway But there's still that higher tier, as you say, of posh, people who think they're posh.

133

I think it's getting to the upper class and the rest.

134

Yes.

135

And it's trickled down.

136

We might call these posh people toffs, mightn't we?

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Oh, it's a good word.

138

It's a good word.

139

You know, toff, it's a slightly informal, it's an informal word.

140

And it's slightly mocking for upper class or wealthy people.

141

If I were upper class or if I were wealthy, I don't think I'd like somebody to call me a toff.

142

But it's got this image, hasn't it?

143

What would you describe a toff as?

144

Oh, somebody who, well, they dress quite smartly.

145

I always think they have their nose in the air as well, for some reason.

146

Yes.

147

Like they look down on you.

148

Oh, jolly good, jolly good.

149

It's almost a toff has this idea of being rich,

150

like snobbish maybe yeah totally unaware of how people live yeah uh real people live

151

and of course the opposite of a tough

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if you wanted to insult somebody who wasn't a tough you'd possibly call them common

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which is a bit that's also a derogatory term uh it's quite insulting to say well it's not always

154

but insulting description for behavior considered lacking in refinement and class

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so if you if you say all right all right roy you know

156

yes you don't know how to comment It's like you don't know how to use a soup spoon, you know, rather than using it properly.

157

Yes.

158

What's a soup spoon, Rob?

159

But I mean, this is this is the thing.

160

It's fascinating to sort of talk about those sort of things about common, you know.

161

And also, of course, common can also mean every day.

162

I'm just, you know, common people and all that.

163

And it's it's not necessarily negative, but it just basically means ordinary.

164

I mean there are two types I think

165

when I think of upper class

166

and I think of being posh I usually think of what we would call old money

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which is wealth that has existed in a family for several generations it's passed down

168

new money is the opposite which is wealth acquired relatively recently rather than through inheritance like maybe

169

I mean I don't know but some of these businessmen

170

that now you know maybe they are new money

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because they've made money from money

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or they've made money from money they've made money from nothing yes

173

and interestingly and generalizing here but these people don't seem to be

174

so posh it's the old money that's no posh new money

175

yes you've got lots of money not necessarily uh high class or or sophisticated

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you know yeah and i i think

177

that the in the uk in general we are quite class conscious uh

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which is aware of the differences between classes i think we're very class conscious um

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but more so of them and the rest i think it's getting to that level

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because i would consider myself for example relatively well spoken i would consider you uh well spoken uh

181

which is speaking clearly and in a way traditionally considered i mean it was considered educated

182

and socially prestigious not so much now it's just an accent um

183

but well -spoken also means a good command of the language uh

184

but i wouldn't consider you posh rob oh thank you not in

185

that kind of no yeah well no

186

but i wouldn't consider you posh in the sense of you know i consider you well -spoken educated

187

yes it's interesting but i wouldn't consider you

188

that level it's interesting about the voice i mean these days regional accents are you know perfectly accepted and stuff

189

when you listen to old recordings of bbc programs they have

190

very well pronounced rp accents who would say oh that's a

191

that's a bit posh posh voice you know yeah i i

192

mean i think you know there is the difference between a

193

modern rp standard southern british english those kind of accent

194

that accent and the traditional rp

195

which is more you know you may hear the king using traditional rp

196

and it's an interesting scale i know this is fascinating well the learners the the listeners will love it

197

but the there is an idea that the posher you are the more you clip vowels vowel sounds

198

and the more common you are the more you clip consonants

199

so i mean i think this is a massive stereotype

200

and it's a massive judgment and i i don't necessarily subscribe

201

but you know you could say uh a handkerchief but

202

if you listen to an rp speaker they say handkerchief handkerchief a handkerchief

203

and they clip their vowels hello oh it's very good very

204

good they clip it i i wouldn't even call it a handkerchief i call it a hanky

205

so what does that make me hanky that's that's off the scale isn't it uh

206

but uh that's that's that's incredible i i don't we do we do

207

we do use the word posh quite informally

208

when we talk about something a bit fancy like i'm going

209

to a posh restaurant tonight a posh restaurant might be somewhere

210

that has a tablecloth on the on the you know how

211

you live rob um yeah the mcdonald's with a tablecloth um

212

yeah we do use it you know i think it's also

213

sort of saying oh i'm going somewhere swanky uh posh also i think

214

if you describe a person as posh it's a bit more derogatory than a than a restaurant or Or, you know, I mean, if you came over to my house and went, oh, very posh, I might think,

215

you know, I think you'd just mean fancy.

216

But then we also have a mutual understanding from years of knowing each other.

217

Yeah.

218

Well, I do know you live in a huge castle on your own personal island.

219

So it does all sound very posh.

220

You have a very posh lifestyle.

221

It's true.

222

Let's not talk about personal islands.

223

It doesn't seem to be.

224

Anyway.

225

But, yeah, no, no. My castle is always open.

226

The drawbridge is always down.

227

um but yeah there's this idea i think i think the word posh when we use it in general for things

228

it can be a bit a bit more like banter like

229

slightly joking it's quite it's quite a posh restaurant isn't it especially i think

230

if it's a make it you know you go i'm going to

231

that new restaurant oh it's quite posh for you isn't it

232

it's almost still attacking your life saying you're trying to be above your station i think yeah um

233

but there is this idea that the upper class they're quite privileged as well

234

and i think that's the key piece of vocabulary we really

235

need you know it's this idea their social status is higher

236

they i don't think they necessarily do look down on the

237

rest of the yeah some may some may not people are different

238

but this i think there's this idea

239

that we look up to the upper class and they look down

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and i you know i think i think it's this idea

241

of privilege they've gone to the most expensive private schools private

242

education they've had yes everything to handed to them they've had it yeah exactly they've had stuff handed to them

243

because they've had rich parents who in turn had rich parents

244

and so it's all been very easy they've not had to worry about money.

245

They've had this privileged lifestyle that they haven't had to suffer.

246

That's our impression.

247

Maybe it's an inferiority complex, though.

248

We think, oh, yes, they've got more money.

249

They're better than us.

250

You don't need to feel inferior when you're talking to me.

251

It's fine, Rob.

252

I love that we're painting me as posh.

253

I definitely wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth.

254

That's a great expression.

255

If you're born with a silver a spoon in your mouth

256

it basically means you're posh upper class uh this kind of thing it's probably

257

because of the way they talk oh yeah like this uh

258

horse riding tends to be associated with the upper class doesn't

259

it as well it's another thing i don't know what polo gosh

260

if you said i'm trying taking up a new sport roy

261

polo i'd be like oh it's too too posh for me rob

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i'd be worried um

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but i mean it's yeah it's it's background private schools public schools uh private school

264

and public school are the same thing aren't they basically well they're slightly different

265

but they're both fee -paying schools if you go to state school

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which is the actual school then you're seen as more normal your average private private school

267

or public school seen as a as a privilege hmm doesn't always mean by the way

268

that doesn't calling it posh doesn't always mean it's better it's just um an idea

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that it's rich and and privileged that it's

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or feels it's better you know you know oh it's a posh restaurant

271

but i know i just prefer you know the food may

272

be better at this what we call a greasy spoon cafe

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like a like a just a bill you know sort of

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place where you see builders the food may be better there than some in fact

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if i'm totally honest a lot of sort of posh restaurants i don't really enjoy them

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because they come with small portions and i'm like

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but that's true all these swirls

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and kind of you talk about the difference in the restaurants

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and a kind of fry up place the thing is they

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could serve the same food greasy spoon would serve up bacon and eggs

281

but a posh restaurant would serve up a beautifully served perfect

282

egg with some beautiful crispy rashes of bacon same food

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but it's served differently therefore it's it's posh

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and they charge you more money for it i mean this is a whole different story isn't it

285

because people do

286

if something seems to cost more money they possibly do associate

287

it with it being better oh you know this is a real treat uh

288

so i mean that's a whole thing about human the human brain psychology working there uh

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but it's a fascinating one

290

but I want to say thank you very much Rob for joining me on this subject

291

if you would like to buy us a cup of tea

292

or apparently a bottle of champagne no just a cup of

293

tea there's always a link down below you can buy us a cup of tea to support this podcast

294

and help it keep going but Rob thank you very much I'd say you're a down to earth typical bloke

295

thank you very much Roy it's a privilege to be on this this posh podcast welcome your majesty

296

take care see you in the next one bye

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Từ vựng và ghi chú luyện nói cho bài học này

Bài luyện nói trình độ B2 này dựa trên video “What does 'posh' actually mean in British English?”. Video này có 296 câu và 3455 từ để luyện shadowing. Phần lời nói dài 19:10. Người nói nói nhanh, khoảng 180 từ mỗi phút, nên sẽ có nhiều chỗ nối âm và nuốt âm. Chỉ 81% số từ nằm trong 3.000 từ tiếng Anh thông dụng nhất, nên từ vựng khá khó.

Từ vựng quan trọng trong video

15 từ khó nhất trong video, kèm phiên âm và nghĩa:

Từ	Phiên âm	Nghĩa
handkerchief danh từ	/ˈhæŋkəːt͡ʃɪf/	khăn tay, mùi soa
accent danh từ	/ækˈsɛnt/	trọng âm
privilege danh từ	/ˈpɹɪv.(ɪ.)lɪd͡ʒ/	đặc quyền
spoon danh từ	/spuːn/	thìa, muỗng
collar danh từ	/ˈkɑlɚ/	cổ áo
plumber danh từ	/ˈplʌm.əɹ/	thợ sửa ống nước
vowel danh từ	/ˈvaʊ.əl/	nguyên âm, mẫu âm
insult danh từ	/ɪnˈsʌlt/	lời xúc phạm
tablecloth danh từ		khăn trải bàn
polo danh từ	/ˈpoʊloʊ/	mã cầu, pô-lô
vocabulary danh từ	/vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/	từ vựng
behave động từ	/bɪˈheɪv/	cư xử
soup danh từ	/sup/	canh, nước dùng
bacon danh từ	/ˈbeɪ.kən/	thịt muối, thịt lợn muối xông khói
consonant danh từ	/ˈkɑn.sə.nənt/	phụ âm

Cụm động từ bạn sẽ nghe

Từ	Nghĩa
bring up động từ	nuôi nấng, nuôi

Những câu đáng luyện lại

Các câu ngắn, trọn ý trong video mà bạn có thể dùng lại khi giao tiếp hằng ngày:

See, I'm putting on a posh voice.
You did, didn't you?
We have a word for those sort of people, don't we?
We might call these posh people toffs, mightn't we?
What would you describe a toff as?

Ngữ pháp trong video

Những cấu trúc người nói dùng nhiều nhất, kèm đúng cụm từ trong video:

Cấu trúc	Trong video
Câu điều kiện if + mệnh đề, will/would + động từ — điều kiện và kết quả	if that's true, or we'll put
“Used to” used to + động từ — thói quen hoặc tình trạng trong quá khứ nay không còn	used to go · used to use
Thì hiện tại hoàn thành have/has + quá khứ phân từ — việc đã xảy ra nhưng còn liên quan đến hiện tại	have i done · have changed · I've heard
Câu bị động be + quá khứ phân từ — nhấn vào việc xảy ra, không phải người làm	was taught · be called · was told

Phát âm cần chú ý

Người nói dùng 131 dạng rút gọn, ví dụ don't, you're, I'm. Hãy nói theo dạng ngắn đúng như bạn nghe.

Âm “sh” và “zh”: traditionally /tɹəˈdɪʃ.ə.nə.li/, snobbish /ˈsnɒbɪʃ/, implication /ˌɪmpləˈkeɪʃən/, gosh /ɡɑːʃ/, conscious /ˈkɑn.ʃəs/
Từ dài — đặt trọng âm cho đúng: derogatory /dɪˈɹɑɡəˌtɔɹi/, traditionally /tɹəˈdɪʃ.ə.nə.li/, implication /ˌɪmpləˈkeɪʃən/, inheritance /ɪnˈhɛɹɪtəns/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/

Những âm người Việt thường gặp khó:

Cụm phụ âm cuối — đọc đủ từng âm, đừng nuốt âm cuối: accent /ækˈsɛnt/, insult /ɪnˈsʌlt/, podcast /ˈpɑdˌkæst/, inheritance /ɪnˈhɛɹɪtəns/, consonant /ˈkɑn.sə.nənt/
Âm /tʃ/, /dʒ/ và /ʒ/ — tiếng Việt không có, đừng đọc thành “ch” hay “gi”: handkerchief /ˈhæŋkəːt͡ʃɪf/, privilege /ˈpɹɪv.(ɪ.)lɪd͡ʒ/, educate /ˈɛd͡ʒ.əˌkeɪt/, jolly /ˈd͡ʒɑli/, drawbridge /ˈdɹɔːbɹɪd͡ʒ/
Âm /æ/ — mở miệng rộng hơn âm “e”: handkerchief /ˈhæŋkəːt͡ʃɪf/, accent /ækˈsɛnt/, fascinate /ˈfæsɪneɪt/, podcast /ˈpɑdˌkæst/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/

Cách luyện với video này

Nghe hết video một lần, chưa cần nói, và ghi lại những từ bạn chưa biết.
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Ghi âm giọng mình rồi so với bản gốc, chú ý các từ như handkerchief, accent, privilege.

Phương Pháp Shadowing Là Gì?

Shadowing là kỹ thuật học ngôn ngữ có cơ sở khoa học, ban đầu được phát triển cho chương trình đào tạo phiên dịch viên chuyên nghiệp và được phổ biến rộng rãi bởi nhà đa ngôn ngữ học Dr. Alexander Arguelles. Nguyên lý cốt lõi đơn giản nhưng cực kỳ hiệu quả: bạn nghe tiếng Anh của người bản xứ và lặp lại to ngay lập tức — như một "cái bóng" (shadow) đuổi theo người nói với độ trễ chỉ 1–2 giây. Khác với luyện ngữ pháp hay học từ vựng bị động, Shadowing buộc não bộ và cơ miệng phải đồng thời xử lý và tái tạo ngôn ngữ thực tế. Các nghiên cứu khoa học xác nhận phương pháp này cải thiện đáng kể phát âm, ngữ điệu, nhịp điệu, nối âm, kỹ năng nghe và độ lưu loát khi nói — đặc biệt hiệu quả cho người luyện IELTS Speaking và muốn giao tiếp tiếng Anh tự nhiên như người bản ngữ.

Phương pháp shadowing: đọc hướng dẫn từng bước đầy đủ →

Luyện nói tiếng Anh bằng Shadowing qua video: What does 'posh' actually mean in British English?

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Phương Pháp Shadowing Là Gì?