Word of the Week (end)

I’m a writer, so words are important to me. It’s not unusual to see me staring off into space when I’m writing -- often searching for just the right word to express whatever I’m trying to say.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Oxford English Dictionary, that most definitive resource on the English language.

It was first published in sections called “fascicles” beginning in 1884. Here's a picture of James A. H. Murray, an early editor of the OED, in his "scriptorium" around 1880.

The “complete” OED was launched in 1928 after 70 years of research and compilation. The 1928 edition contained 415,000 words.

Today the number of volumes has doubled, and the 20 volumes weigh 137 pounds!

In honor of this seminal event, I thought it would be fun to feature a word a week here (or, OK, every other week, or once a month, or whenever the whim hits). This week’s word is (ta daaahh)....

POSH

According to the World of Words section at AskOxford.com, linguistic mythology traces the origins of ‘posh’ to the seafaring acronym Port Out, Starboard Home. These indicated the best cabins (shade side) on the trip between Britain and India—port side for the outward trip, starboard for the trip back. But no documentation using the initials P.O.S.H. has ever been found, so the dictionary suggests a more likely origin: nineteenth- century slang for a “dandy” which in turn derived from thieves’ slang for money.

“That posh got ‘imself a lot of posh," says Posh Spice.

So...how about you? Got a word you'd like to talk about?