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<Asa Lovejoy>
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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?
 
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Picture of arnie
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Etymology online 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.


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quote:
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.
 
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I have always wondered how accurate etymology.com is.

Only as accurate as the dictionary they lift their etymology from.


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Yes, sometimes I have found exact quotes from the online OED, without cites of course.
 
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Words 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.
 
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Wiktionary says that it is probably from toff.


Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
 
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