JohnCalvinYoung.com

In the depart­ment of inter­est­ing movie trivia, I recently heard a pos­si­bly apoc­ryphal story explain­ing both the ori­gins of the word “posh” and the some­what non­sen­si­cal lyrics of the “Posh, Posh” song in the much-loved film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (imdb). As the story goes, rich trav­el­ers sail­ing between Colonial India and Great Britain would pay extra for the priv­iledge of a cabin on the port side going out and the star­board com­ing home, as the pecu­liar­i­ties of the route would put the cabin in the shade for much of the Indian Ocean leg of the trip. Only the rich­est, most picky pas­sen­gers could pay, how­ever, so the mod­ern def­i­n­i­tion of “posh” as “Smart, fash­ion­able” with a sub­tle con­no­ta­tion of picky supe­ri­or­ity fol­lowed from that orig­i­nal acronym of Port Out Starboard Home, sup­pos­edly printed on the higher-priced tick­ets. There seems to be a lack of con­crete evi­dence for the prac­tice, but the expla­na­tion cer­tainly appeals to the imagination–and the rhyme.

This is livin’, this is style
This is ele­gance by the mile

Oh the posh posh trav­el­ing life
The trav­el­ing life for me
First cabin and captain’s table regal com­pany
Whenever I’m bored I travel abroad
But ever so prop­erly
Port out, star­board home
Posh with a cap­i­tal P-O-S-H, posh

The hands that hold the scepters
Every head that holds a crown
They’ll always give their all for me
They’ll never let me down
I’m on my way to far away tah tah and toodle-oo
And fare thee well, and Bon Voyage arrived­erci too

O the posh posh trav­el­ing life
The trav­el­ing life for me
First cabin and captain’s table regal com­pany
Pardon the dust of the upper crust
Fetch us a cup of tea
Port out, star­board home, posh with a cap­i­tal P-O-S-H, posh

In every for­eign strand I land the royal trum­pets toot me
The royal wel­come mat is out
They 21 gun salute me
But monar­chies are con­stantly com­mand­ing me to call
Last month I miffed the Mufti but you can’t oblige them all

Oh the posh posh trav­el­ing life, the trav­el­ing life for me
Oh rum­petly tum­pety didy didy dee dee dee dee dee
Oh the posh posh trav­el­ing life, the trav­el­ing life for me
First cabin and captain’s table regal com­pany
When I’m at the helm the world’s my realm and I do it styl­ishly
Port out, star­board home

Posh with a cap­i­tal P-O-S-H
P-O-S-H, P-O-S-H…

(lyrics from http://www.lyrics-n-tunes.com/lyrics/chitty_posh.html)

Whether the story is his­tor­i­cally valid or not it does explain the song beau­ti­fully. I enjoyed hear­ing this and just wanted to pass it on to you.

John Calvin Young