June 30, 2009, 17:55
<Asa Lovejoy>Toff
I've heard this term a good bit lately, referring to Etonians primarily, but also to any of the so-called privileged class. Would you Brits be so kind as to provide us on the other side of the pond with a history lesson regarding its origins?
July 01, 2009, 04:01
arnie and a couple of online dictionaries suggest
quote:
lower-class British slang for "stylish dresser, member of the smart set," 1851, probably an alteration of tuft, formerly an Oxford Univ. term for a nobleman or gentleman-commoner (1755), in ref. to the gold ornamental tassel worn on the caps of undergraduates at Oxford and Cambridge whose fathers were peers with votes in the House of Lords.
July 03, 2009, 12:37
Kallehquote:
Perh. a vulgar perversion of TUFT, as formerly applied to a nobleman or gentleman-commoner at Oxford.
The OED is has a similar etymology, though the "perh." (perhaps?) is interesting. I have always wondered how accurate etymology.com is.
July 04, 2009, 17:14
zmježdOnly as accurate as the dictionary they lift their etymology from.
July 07, 2009, 19:41
KallehYes, sometimes I have found exact quotes from the online OED, without cites of course.
July 21, 2009, 05:51
Graham NiceWords like toff will be very useful for about five of the next six years at least, given the state of the UK political scene.
Was toffee-nosed derived from toff then? They mean essentially the same thing.
July 21, 2009, 06:42
arnie says that it is probably from
toff.