British English British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Oxford Dictionaries, "English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadly ...

slang, a toff is a stereotype for someone with an aristocratic background or belonging to the

landed gentry The landed gentry, or the ''gentry'', is a largely historical British social class of landowners who could live entirely from rental income, or at least had a country estate. While distinct from, and socially below, the British peerage, th ...

, particularly someone who exudes an air of superiority. For instance,

the Toff In the series of adventure novels by John Creasey, the Toff is the nickname of the Honourable Richard Rollison, an upper-class crime sleuth. Creasey published almost 60 Toff adventures, beginning with ''Introducing the Toff'' in 1938 and conti ...

, a character from the series of adventure novels by

John Creasey John Creasey (17 September 1908 – 9 June 1973) was an English crime writer, also writing science fiction, romance and western novels, who wrote more than six hundred novels using twenty-eight different pseudonyms. He created several charac ...

, is an upper class crime sleuth who uses a common caricature of a toff – a line drawing with a top hat,

monocle A monocle is a type of corrective lens used to correct or enhance the visual perception in only one eye. It consists of a circular lens, generally with a wire ring around the circumference that can be attached to a string or wire. The other ...

bow-tie The bow tie is a type of necktie. A modern bow tie is tied using a common shoelace knot, which is also called the bow knot for that reason. It consists of a ribbon of fabric tied around the collar of a shirt in a symmetrical manner so that th ...

and cigarette with a holder – as his

calling card ''Calling Card'' is the sixth studio album and eighth album overall by Irish singer/guitarist Rory Gallagher. A 1976 release, it was his second of four albums released on Chrysalis Records in the 1970s. Deep Purple/Rainbow bass guitarist Roger ...

. The word "toff" is thought to come from the word "tuft", which was a gold tassel worn by titled undergraduates at the University of Oxford or the University of Cambridge. The Anglo-Saxon word "toforan" has a meaning of "superiority". Ian Kelly's book, ''Beau Brummell: The Ultimate Dandy'', page 159, says it derives from the brown liquid that dripped from an upper class gentleman's nose after taking snuff.

Hoorah Henry In British English slang, Hooray Henry or Hoorah Henry (plural: Hoorah/Hooray Henrys/Henries) is a pejorative term, comparable to "toff", for an upper-middle class or upper class British male who exudes loud-mouthed arrogance and an air of superio ...

has a similar meaning.

References

Slang terms for men English culture Stereotypes of the upper class Social class in the United Kingdom {{vocab-stub

See also

References