O
from The Liverpool English Dictionary
Summary
Oats (n.): sex. ‘Instead of getting’ y’ oats y’ get chicken biryani’ (Russell 1996 [1976]: 203). ‘Yer must be missin yer oats’ (Jacques 1979: n.p.). ‘Yer were getting’ yer oats then?’ (Bryan 2003 [1940s–50s]: 55). Recorded from e.20c.; derivation unclear.
Ocker (n.): one shilling piece. ‘Ocker. Shilling piece’ (Shaw et al. 1966: 34). *NR; recorded from m.19c.; from ‘ochre’, ‘money in general’.
Of (prep.): during, on (referring to repeated action at a particular time). ‘Dishwash of a day and write epics at night’ (O'Mara 1934: 245). ‘’Bout ten to one of a Sunday’ (Hignett 1966: 90). ‘We go of a Tuesday an’ a Thursday night’ (Bleasdale 1975: 15). ‘We don't come to school of a Sunday’ (Brown 1989: 38). ‘I'd play football of a night’ (Dudgeon 2010: 100). Recorded from l.18c.; a replacement of the Old English genitive of time, this now dialectal use implies regularity or repetition at a given time or on a specific day.
Off, the (n.): the start; departure. ‘Ready for the off?’ (McClure 1980: 512). ‘It's waterworks right from the off’ (Sampson 2002: 204). Recorded from l.19c.; probably from racing usage, ‘they're off’.
Off one's onion (adj.): crazy, mad. ‘When a fellow starts going off his onion like that about socialism’ (Hanley 1935: 510). Recorded from l.19c.; from the slightly earlier ‘onion’, ‘head’.
Offy (n.): off-licence. ‘While yer there skank us a bottle from thee offy’ (Griffiths 2003: 135). Recorded from l.20c.; derivation is clear.
Og (n.): halfpenny; shilling. ‘Clutchin’ your og or thrippenny joey or sproweser, or whatever it wus, to the grocer’ (Shaw 1957a: 18). ‘2? – Two og’ (Minard 1972: 86). ‘Og; meg. One halfpenny’ (Shaw et al. 1966: 33). *NR; derivation unknown.
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- Information
- The Liverpool English DictionaryA Record of the Language of Liverpool 1850–2015 on Historical Principles, pp. 166 - 172Publisher: Liverpool University PressPrint publication year: 2017