The word 'posh' is an acronym. What does it stand for?

Port Out, Starboard Home. In the 1800's ships sailing from England to India found the coolest, most comfortable side of the ship to be the left (Port) side on the way out, and the right (Starboard) side of the ship on the way home. The letters POSH were stamped on the boarding passes of passengers who had purchased the best accommodations on the ship, and the term came to mean Rich, High End or Classy.

The posh people going on cruises wanted to go port side on the way out and the starboard side on the way home. P-ort O-ut S-tarboard H-ome. The had plenty of money to pay to be P-O-S-H.

I always thought it was a Romany term.

On steam ships...Port Out, Starboard Home. Wealthy passengers would switch from the port side to the starboard side of a ship when traveling back home.

The origin is unknown. There's a simplistic story about "port out, starboard home", but there's no tangible evidence for it. As reported by the Oxford English Dictionaries website:

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/explore/what-is-...

More detailed analysis, arguably less authoritative, at Snopes:

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/posh/

Sometimes, "Nobody really knows" is the correct answer.

no it is NOT.

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People Of Superior Heritage. does not refer to any Americans

Port out, starboard home. The better (non sun) side of the ship to book for the trip out to India and back home (UK).

People Of Superior Heritage.