It is an undoubted fact that seafaring is the source of more false etymology than any other sphere. This can be attributed to the attractiveness of the romantic image of horny-handed sailors singing shanties and living a hearty and rough life at sea. After all, it sounds plausible that POSH means 'Port out, starboard home', but it doesn't. CANOE, the Committee to Ascribe a Naval Origin to Everything, doesn't really exist, but the number of these folk myths makes it seem as though they do.

US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "Why do ships use 'port' and 'starboard' instead of 'left' and 'right?' ". oceanservice.noaa.gov . Retrieved March 9, 2020. posh — [20] Although it only appeared as recently as the early 20th century, posh is one of the oldest chestnuts of English etymology. The story got around that it was an acronym for port out, starboard home, an allusion to the fact that wealthy… … The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins Forget your lefts and rights, British Rowing can officially confirm that ‘port’ and ‘starboard’ are the terms to use when rowing!

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The History of Yahoo! - How It All Started..." Yahoo.com. 2001. Archived from the original on 29 November 2001 . Retrieved 8 November 2015. The terms will replace references to ‘stroke side’ and ‘bow side’, which have also been used in place of ‘left’ and ‘right’ from the cox’s point of view. Bennett, Joe (30 April 2012). "Everything you ever wanted to know about the word 'chav' ". Ideas Lab Predictor Podcast, University of Birmingham . Retrieved 2023-10-13. Sheidlower, Jesse (2009). The F-Word. New York: Oxford University Press US. ISBN 978-0-19-539311-8.

Port and starboard are traditional nautical terms, which are also represented by the colours red and green respectively. NASA. "RADAR means: Radio Detection and Ranging". Nasa Explores. Archived from the original on 2004-01-28. Then, towards the end of the nineteenth century, an alternate meaning of ‘posh’ arose, again from that constant stream of living language, slang. Once again, this ‘posh’ was a noun rather than the more familiar adjective we use today, although, interestingly, this ‘posh’ referred to a dandy: a well-dressed, and often well-off, man about town. Among other sources, this ‘posh’ appears in the 1902 book Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present, compiled by John S. Farmer and William Ernest Henley (the latter of whom was the author of the poem ‘ Invictus’ as well as the inspiration for the character Long John Silver). POSH — Port Out Starboard Home (Governmental » Transportation) * Prevention Of Sexual Harassment (Governmental » Military) * Probability Of Severe Hail (Academic & Science » Meteorology) * Probability Of Severe Hail (Academic & Science » Ocean Science)… … Abbreviations dictionarya b RMG Staff (February 2, 2017). "Port and Starboard: Why do Sailors say 'Port' and 'Starboard', for "Left" and "Right?" ". Discover: Explore by Theme. Greenwich, England, UK: Royal Museums Greenwich. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015 . Retrieved February 2, 2017– via RMG.co.uk. Grape, Wolfgang (1994). The Bayeux Tapestry: Monument to a Norman Triumph. Art and Design Series. Munich, DEU: Prestel. p. 95. ISBN 978-3791313658 . Retrieved February 2, 2017. Admiralty Circular No. 2, November 22, 1844, cited in Western Courier newspaper (Plymouth) December 11, 1844. Vessels with bilateral symmetry have left and right halves which are mirror images of each other. One asymmetric feature is where access to a boat, ship, or aircraft is at the side, it is usually only on the port side (hence the name). Slang and Its Analogues Past and Present provided Henley with material for his extra-ordinary translations of Villon: