Learn English with British TV and Movies | Understand POSH British English

Have you ever wondered what people  mean when they say someone sounds POSH?

If you do know what it means, do you wish  to add some poshness to your English?

Or do you want to better differentiate between  

Posh English and standard English  so that you don’t mix them up?

If you identify with any of these questions,  watch this lesson until the end so that you  

understand (and maybe use) the Posh  English that some British people use.

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So, here’s some general information.

More than just a feature of language,  posh is associated with the upper class,  

related to having or spending money. Posh  people in Britain use words that maybe  

the general population would not normally  use and their pronunciation also changes.

Take a look at these sentences with the word  Posh that a user of Urban Dictionary shared.  

This will give you an idea of the  cultural significance of this word.

In this lesson, we’ll focus on words that  will make you sound POSH and also help you  

understand posh English. So if you  want to boost your language level,  

then this lesson is definitely for you!

We’re using clips from Bridgerton,  

Downton Abbey and The Crown to give  you real examples with these words.

You may want to sound posh in  certain situations at work,  

university or social gatherings, but  even if you don’t want to speak this way,  

you might want to understand it as it’s part of  British culture. For example, you could hear an  

English person speak POSH as a joke! We do  love to experiment with different accents!

Besides that, it’s always good to have an idea  of the difference between posh English and casual  

English so that you don’t say something posh  if you’re hanging out with friends for example.

So, imagine you’re going to  Surrey as an exchange student,  

and your host family are the Spencers,  a classic posh, upper class family.

A few things you might notice in conversing  with the members of this upper crust family  

is they’d use very, so, and really  less frequently. Instead you’ll hear:

Rather, as in for example

“It’s a rather difficult question”

or as in “to rather like something.”

You could also hear this word at  the end of a sentence to correct  

a misstatement or emphasize a point.

Other words that are used to emphasize an idea  are quite, fairly, utterly, awfully, and jolly.

Notice that even though “awful” generally has a  negative meaning, when you say it as “awfully”,  

to add emphasis, it generally has a  positive meaning. In the following example,  

both utterly and awfully are used. Another rather  Posh sounding word in this example is indeed.

In our FwF course, we’ll teach you important  vocabulary, just like this, to help you  

avoid making mistakes. Of course in addition to  learning thousands of the words we really use in  

our everyday speech, understanding how natives  really speak, using correct pronunciation and  

laughing along with all the jokes. So you can try  that absolutely free with our 3 part masterclass.  

You can learn more and sign up by clicking  up here or in the description below.

Let’s move on to some of the adjectives that  posh people like to use. Imagine it’s 5 pm,  

you’re still at the Spencer house in  Surrey and Mrs. Spencer asks you “Darling,  

do you fancy a cup of tea?” Can you guess what  would be an appropriate posh reply to that?

Splendid is a typical posh adjective. You  could say “That’s a splendid idea!” or  

simply say “Splendid!” if you  like what someone else said).

Posh people also love the adjective marvellous,  

so after you’ve had dinner with the Spencers  you could say: “Dinner was marvellous.”

Take a look at this example from Downton Abbey,  

where they use a couple of  adjectives common in posh talk.

In this clip we just saw, there’s another common  

feature of posh talk, which is adding  do before a verb. So, they’ll say:

Back to some adjectives, as you’re  still hanging out with the Spencers,  

you might be invited to a ball.

Actually, a ball, which is a large social occasion  where people dance, are more a thing of the past.  

However, if you do get invited to a ball, you  can say afterwards: The ball was stupendous!

Let’s now move on to some posh slang. These  are words that you can use in more informal  

situations when you’re around posh people. The first one is jolly. We mentioned this  

one as a synonym of very, but also if you’re  jolly you’re happy and enjoying yourself.

When something is nonsense, meaning ideas,  opinions, statements etc that are not true  

or that seem very stupid, you may  use a funny slang word: poppycock.

The next slang word is bugger.  This is an offensive word for  

someone who is very annoying or unpleasant.

You can bugger it! when you are annoyed  or angry or tell someone to bugger off,  

which means to go away or leave a place.

This is a slightly less offensive way  of telling someone to leave you alone  

without using a strong curse word. You've probably heard this one in  

many famous British films such as  Love Actually and Notting Hill. 

Our next lang word is golly which  people use to show surprise.

And, because British people love to  talk about the weather, you can say  

something like What ghastly weather!,  which means “What terrible weather!”

When you're in Surrey you might make  friends with a group of chaps or you might  

date a nice chap. Chap is another way to say man.

Twit is an insult which means stupid.

So, to recap what you've learned in this lesson.

British poshness is associated with the upper  class. For that reason, it’s not the most likely  

English you’ll hear when visiting the UK but  this is language that people do like to use. 

I also taught you these  posh words that you can use,  

not only with the intention to sound  posh, but sometimes even when you want  

to sound a bit more sophisticated  or if you're in a formal situation. 

With many hit series like The Crown,  Downton Abbey and Bridgerton, to name a few,  

that depict the upper class, you’ll be able  to understand the language they use better! 

So if you liked this lesson, make sure you give  it a thumbs up and if you’d like a lesson on one  

of these series we haven’t yet featured,  let us know in the comments down below!