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stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: Sep 2005
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hi could anyone tell me the origin of the word 'OAF' traditional usage has it the the word means a dimwit or stupid person, does it also mean anything else?
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Joined: Jun 2002
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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etymonline.com gives:
oaf 1610 (implied in oafish), also auf (1621), "a changeling; a foolish child left by the fairies" [Johnson], from a Scand. source, cf. Norw. alfr "silly person," in O.N., "elf" (see elf). Hence, "a misbegotten, deformed idiot." Until recently, some dictionaries still gave the plural as oaves.
I have never heard it used any other way, though it's likely an acronym for something!
welcome, shalini!
formerly known as etaoin...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I agree with etaoin that an acronym is a real possibility. Especially when spelled entirely in uppercase letters. Here are some links to investigate: http://snipurl.com/hfex-mq42
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I have heard the expression "big dumb oaf" which, it seems, is redundant.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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"big dumb oaf"
Yes, there is a subtle difference between tautology, redundancy, and augmentation.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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> is redundant Only if you take the meaning of dumb to be merely synonymous with stupid (which is only its prime sense in American versions of English), Father Steve - but if you allow for its alternate and much older meanings of 'speechless' it is indeed a meaningful augmentation. http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/dumb?view=ukedit: add link
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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While I doubt there is any connection, it always seemed apt to me that "oaf" means "chicken" (or) "fowl" in Hebrew.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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so which came first already, the chicken or the oeuf?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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And, œuf (actually øf) is what a Danish pig says. Oink and out.
And, who'd've thunk that oaf, elf, and albino were all related? Along with albedo, albumen, and album.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Re: >redundancy.
As flattered as I am to be thought of as one and the same with our Moorish padre, it really ought to have been his post you replied to, not mine, boyo.
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