"Dosh", is it widely used.

[Packard]

I came across the word "dosh" in a review of the Bentley Mulsanne, and the Bentley Mulsanne Speed motor cars. The online magazine wrote:

When you get the [Bentley Mulsanne] Speed, the base price is $30,930 more than that of the regular Mulsanne, and that's before you get the optional-but-not-really-optional $17,335 carbon-ceramic brakes. Still, the Speed is so much more enjoyable to drive than the other Mulsannes (without imposing any significant ride-quality penalty) that anyone who plans to sit in the driver's seat ought to shell out the extra dosh for it.

Read more: 2017 Bentley Mulsanne first drive: Uncompromised elegance

It is perfectly clear from the context that "dosh" means money. But is it widely used? I've never heard it before in the USA. When I looked online it seems to be a very recent coinage in the UK.

 

[JulianStuart]

It was around in the late 70s when I left the UK, so not that recent but I don't recall it being "common" - just not unusual.

 

[PaulQ]

Dosh is fairly common in the UK. When I read "ought to shell out the extra dosh" I was sure that the writer would be BE. However, I see he is more American than apple-pie. (MurileeMartin.com » Blog Archive » How Does a Hairy Sweaty Dude End Up With a Name Like Murilee, Anyway?)

The other thing is that I learned was the origin of "to shell out": it a shortening of "shell out your corianders ->†3. coriander: slang. Coin, money; short for coriander-seed. Obs.
1801 M. Edgeworth Forester in Moral Tales I. 191 You..must shell out your corianders.

 

[bibliolept]

Just to confirm, "dosh" is not AE and would confuse most AE speakers.

There is no end to slang for money, something I suspect is true in every language. What this may mean is that many of these slang terms are not encountered everyday but are still widely recognized and aren't thought of as affected or dated.

 

[london calling]

It's still pretty common, but not with Millennials, just us oldies.

 

[ewie]

It's common here, and has even given birth to doshola

It's apparently also used in AUS & NZ.

 

[Packard]

It's common here, and has even given birth to doshola

It's apparently also used in AUS & NZ.

When I Google "doshola" all I get in response is "Dos Hola". Hmmm.

 

[Egmont]

I think the writer, since he was writing about a British car, was deliberately using British slang. Automobile writers, like sports writers and several other varieties of writers, go to great lengths to avoid using simple words that everyone will understand right away. They probably think it makes their writing more interesting. Also, perhaps after writing article after article on more or less the same topic, week after week and year after year, they'll do anything to avoid becoming bored.

 

[Hermione Golightly]

Origin dated to the '50s, so I've known it all my life and occasionally use it. I tell my husband that I'm spending his dosh on the champagne and caviar.

My life could be defined by 'none at all', 'some but not enough', then thank goodness 'plenty enough' of it. I like the suggestion that it's a combo' of 'dough' and 'cash'. I am not convinced by the 'doss- house' derivation, but who knows.

 

[You little ripper!]

It's apparently also used in AUS & NZ.

It is, but 'moola' seems to have taken over as a more common equivalent.

I like the suggestion that it's a combo' of 'dough' and 'cash'.