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My sainted grandmother on my father's side used an expression which, while it defies formal definition, carried apparent meaning derived from the context in which it was used and the emphasis with which it was delivered. Do you know the word "pishtosh"? From what does it derive? I pray it is not naughty. Grandmother was rather proper, in her fashion.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Darn it, I feel sure that expression has been at least used here before, if not commented on, but a Search came up empty. I tried Pishtosh, pishtosh, and pish tosh, for all forums and all posts...nothing. But for what it's worth, I've heard of it, yes. It means pshaw. 
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Carpal Tunnel
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AHD4 says of pish that it is an interjection signifying dismissal and that tosh means rubbish, nonsense. Tosh is said to be possibly derived from a combination of trash and bosh. The OED claims pish is "[a] natural exclamation."
The lightbulb of inquiry does not shine upon the single entry pishtosh
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journeyman
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journeyman
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I can't help you in the derivation department, but my grandmother too used this word. When we said something she didn't believe or said we couldn't do something she wanted us to do, she would reply, "Oh Pishtosh, you can too." I think a rude person would use bullsh** for this same word, but I don't think Grandma was thinking she was using a nice form of a vulgarism when she used it. It was just the thing she said in these instances.
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Carpal Tunnel
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pshaw
\Pshaw\, v. i. To express disgust or contemptuous disapprobation, as by the exclamation `` Pshaw!''
"The goodman used regularly to frown and pshaw wherever this topic was touched upon." --Sir Walter Scott.
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Carpal Tunnel
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just to complete the picture, or complicate it, one; W3 has pishposh, reduplication of pish (used to express disdain or contempt): NONSENSE
(this is the word I thought you were asking about..)
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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I'd heard of pishposh and tosh, but I'd never heard of them being used together. Sounds like the Padre's gran may just have not picked it up correctly. Well, I'm off on the ran tan. See ya later.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Yep, tsuwm...I was going to say we used to use a slight derivative: pishposh.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Sounds like the Padre's gran may just have not picked it up correctly.
It is a good thing (for you, Capfka) that my sainted grandmother is long in her grave. The suggestion, nay, even the hint that she might have "mis-picked" a word would certainly lead to punishment too horrible to contemplate.
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Carpal Tunnel
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I have no idea why my last post posted twice ... but it did. Gremlins? Again??
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old hand
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old hand
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I have no idea whence it comes, but I have heard and used it, exactly as you (or your Gran) spell it.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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The suggestion, nay, even the hint that she might have "mis-picked" a word would certainly lead to punishment too horrible to contemplate.
Well, my gran would have laughed and agreed that it was possible. Her eldest daughter, however, would probably have reacted pretty much the way your gran seemed to favour. I hope your gran was brighter than my aunt, is all!
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Carpal Tunnel
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I'm just joining the pishposh gang. It's the word I've heard used many times and I use it myself. Never heard pishtosh till reading this thread this morning, but it lacks the alliterative appeal of pishposh--no slight against your grandmother, of course, Father Steve, . Mother Theresa
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Carpal Tunnel
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My Grandmother sides with your Grandmother! Thank you for reminding me of this great word. Very useful. And since it is so old fashioned it will stun the youngsters - at least into a few seconds of silence and attention!
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Carpal Tunnel
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Pishtosh is what I vaguely remember hearing somewhere,I know not where. The movies, perhaps? Or maybe The Three Stooges?
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Carpal Tunnel
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I seem to recall that the character of Madame Arcati in Noel Coward's comedy Blithe Spirit favored this phrase...but I'm not sure if it was the p or t
version. I tried searching for some of her dialogue with no avail.
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
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Well, my grandmother pronounced it pishtush, which, incidentally, is the name of a character in The Mikado.
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Carpal Tunnel
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let's see what gramma google has to say:
pishposh <> 1200
pish posh <> 6180
pish-posh <> 6860
pishtosh <> 59
pish tosh <> 1150
pish-tosh <> 765
some of these overlap, but it's clearly better than 7 to 1 (not quite an order of magnitude, but).
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Carpal Tunnel
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gramma google 
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Yeahbut® is pishposh/tosh related to poppycock?
"Oh, pishposh!"
"Oh, poppycock!"
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Pooh-Bah
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When I was a boy in London ‘tosh’, or 'tosher', was a name we used to call out to one another if proper names were not known. “Hey, tosh – what’s the time?” for example. But although the term was probably derogatory we didn’t object to it. Perhaps the original meaning had been forgotten by then! I certainly didn’t know it at the time. But much later I read an extremely good tale (by Macdonald Hastings, I think, possibly called ‘A glimpse of Arcadia’) involving ‘toshers’. TOSHER: (from http://www.beerguide.co.uk/quote.htm which has some other interesting stuff too):
‘The sewer-hunters were formerly, and indeed still are, called by the name of toshers, the articles which they pick up in the course of their wanderings along the shore being known among themselves by the general term tosh, a word more particularly applied by them to anything made of copper. These toshers may be seen, especially on the Surrey side of the Thames, habited in long greasy velveteen coats furnished with pockets of vast capacity, and their nether-limbs encased in dirty canvas trowsers, and any old slops of shoes that may be fit only for wading through the mud.’ (Henry Mayhews London Labour and the London Poor 1861)
One who, on the Thames, steals copper from ships' bottoms (Admiral William Smyth's Sailor's Word-Book 1867)It seems amazing that the name should have hung on so long in schoolboy vernacular. In fact, toshers would climb up the sewers in search of valuable metals and coins. This heavier material would be caught in pockets in the sewer floor and toshers would have their own secret spots where they knew they stood a chance of a lucky find. This was quite a dangerous occupation as they could be swept away and drowned if a sluice was opened while they were still underground.
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member
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The definition of "tosher" calls to mind the equally unpleasant occupation of the "purefinders" of 18th century London. As described in Hughes'"Fatal Shore", about the settling of Australia, these enterprising folks earned a livlihood by wandering the streets of London gathering dog turds (Hughes' termnology), which they sold to the tanners for their tannic acid content.
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Carpal Tunnel
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pishposh <> 1200
pish posh <> 6180
pish-posh <> 6860
pishtosh <> 59
pish tosh <> 1150
pish-tosh <> 765
and to complete the triad:
pishtush <> 448
pish tush <> 2170
pish-tush <> 1980
and even
pish and tush <>44
Whatever all that proves.
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Carpal Tunnel
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I think you *guys need some help here...
... isn't mish-mosh a form of this, as well?
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Carpal Tunnel
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mish-mosh
Mish-mosh is what somebody looks like after a night in the mosh pit.
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Carpal Tunnel
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mishmosh is a Yddish word meaning a mixture. Interestingly enough, onelook returns "did you mean mishmash?" But unless I am mistaken the discussion of mishmosh in "The Joys of Yiddish states explicitly that a person who uses mishmash is a goy who is trying to appear Yiddish-eloquent when quite the opposite is true. Unfortunately, like the rest of my library, Rosten's book resided in an unmarked box either in the garage or in our storage unit. And since we have over 125 boxes of books, it will remain inaccessible until after we move. I hope to turn one of the four bedrooms into a library, but I don't believe even that will have room for the 5000 or so books we have. I suspect that the McDowell County Library is gonna get a very large donation. But NOT my Philip Jose Farmer collection!
TEd
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stranger
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stranger
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Granted I'm way out West, but the phrase in my family was "pishtish." It clearly bore the same meaning: "bullpucky!"
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Carpal Tunnel
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...is pishposh/tosh related to poppycock?
"Oh, pishposh!"
"Oh, poppycock!"
Welllll ... pishtosh is dismissive as in "Now you're just being silly." Or, that you are adding something that has no relevancey to the discussion.
Whereas poppycock is a more cutting statement that you talking bullsh*t.
Lestaways® that's the way I figure it.
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