>'poncey' also had the senses of 1) effeminate 2) snobby, ostentatious
I agree that the word does have the sense of "ostentatious", probably because of the stereotype of a ponce wearing flash apparel and adornments. (Like most stereotypes, it is not particularly true - all but one of the ponces I have known were fairly non-descript, ordinary sort of fellows - if a bit sad.) The undoubted connotation of effeminacy possible stems from this, as well. I am not aware of snobbishness being connected, though. I cannot see any reason why a ponce should be a snob _because_ he is a ponce. Any snobbism would surely be rooted in other aspects of his character and background?? However, some of the girls that they lived on were incredibly snobbish - I must write a treatise on the class-structure of harlotry, some day - and maybe it was catching? Plenty of other things to do with the trade were - - -
(Hey!! I've just inadvertantly used the spell-checker - isn't it a hoot?? snobbishness comes out as "Snodgrass" !)
