The best side of the ship to travel on

Posted by Victoria S Dennis on June 25, 2005

In Reply to: The best side of the ship to travel on posted by Marshall Hill on June 25, 2005

: There is an expression that originated in transatlantic ocean travel relating to the best side of the ship to travel on. What is that phrase?

The word you're thinking of is "posh". There is an urban legend that this word derives from P&O tickets marked "Port Out, Starboard Home". This is certainly not true - see the archive here: www.phrases.org.uk meanings 287800.html
The current thinking is that "posh" comes from a Romany word meaning "Half", used in compounds such as "posh-houri" (halfpenny), and thus became a slang word for money in general, and from there to mean "rich or grand". But I think this is just a best guess; there's no proof.