Posted by Peter H on August 18, 2007 at 19:06:39 from 86.137.74.196 user Peter_H.
In Reply to: Re: Amazons Toffs? posted by Jock on August 18, 2007 at 17:20:39:
I submit that after a session on-line, the following definitions rule out any chance at all that any of the Turners are toffs:
toff
n. Chiefly British Slang
A member of the upper classes, especially one who is elegantly dressed.
[Probably variant of tuft, a gold tassel worn by titled students at Oxford and Cambridge.]
(Online Dictionary).
toff
n : an elegantly dressed man (often with affected manners) [syn: nob]
Also: a fop; a beau; a swell.
(Webster)
(Quote:)
'Toff' appears to relate to men only, so the G.A. can't be a toff, nor can she be toffish, unless there are things about her we have not been told. (Ditto Mrs B). As a toff is elegantly dressed, that rules out Capn Flint, judging by AR's drawings of him, except possibly the 'Dutchman' drawing, but there I think he is dressed more practically than elegantly. Anyway, CF doesn't have 'affected manners', quite the opposite.
So I conclude that: although the Turners may well be filthy rich, bourgeois, and the running dogs of capitalism*, they ain't toffs.
(*Jock - I am not alleging that anyone has ever said this, but give them time . . .)