is "toff" really short for "toffee nose"?

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if so, why does "toffee nose" mean "unacceptably posh"?

― mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 10:42 (twenty-two years ago)

also other baffling phrases if u like

― mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 10:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Toffee nose is derived from the idea of having nostrils as large as toffees, upwardly snouted presenting a toffee shaped postbox (or at least Toffo shaped postbox - I have a feeling it might be Toffo Nose).

A similarly derived soubriquet from the Victorian period was a Farthing - having nostrils the shape of a farthing (and pointy up nose).

― Pete (Pete), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 10:45 (twenty-two years ago)

pea-brained is an understandable mispronunciation of ptee-brained

― mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 10:47 (twenty-two years ago)

These folks think toff derives from "tuft", "a gold tassel formerly worn by titled undergraduates at Cambridge or Oxford Universities".

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 10:48 (twenty-two years ago)

i love this one:
nob = short for nobility
mob = short for mobility!!

ie the mob is all the little ppl running around waving their arms about

― mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 10:58 (twenty-two years ago)

What about knob = k-nob = 1000x more noble.

― Pete (Pete), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 14:26 (twenty-two years ago)

'slob' - from Serb irregulars' relaxed attitude re hygiene

― dave q, Tuesday, 26 August 2003 14:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Ptee is k-nob.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 15:47 (twenty-two years ago)

"Tuft-hunter" = someone seeking to ingratiate himself with the gentry. Extensively used in Trollope.

― ArfArf, Tuesday, 26 August 2003 16:02 (twenty-two years ago)

― mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 16:05 (twenty-two years ago)

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