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?

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!

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

I have heard the expression "big dumb oaf" which, it seems, is redundant.

"big dumb oaf"

Yes, there is a subtle difference between tautology, redundancy, and augmentation.

> 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=uk

edit: add link

While I doubt there is any connection, it always seemed apt to me that "oaf" means "chicken" (or) "fowl" in Hebrew.

so which came first already, the chicken or the oeuf?

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.

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.

Hi, the reason why I put up this post was because I have school in my home-town which is curiously named "the Oaf Public School". Now who would name a school to state what he probably means is the exact antithesis of the name. Any guesses on this?

perhaps it's someone's name?

someone's name

It doesn't appear to be the most common of names but:

http://www.fortunecity.com/millennium/firemansam/1349/fam02093.htm

Well--your mention of it being a school, plus the all caps in your opening post, lead me to think it is most likely an acronym; for what, though, I don't know. The Original Aryan Fathers, or something...(highly unlikely!)

Is it by any chance in or near Bhopal? The only hint I've found so far is here, about 7/8ths. of the way down, in the paragraph that starts with "The departure of employees directly involved with the accident..."
http://www.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/uu21le/uu21le0c.htm
It mentions "OAF's takeover bid", but nowhere did I see an explanation of what OAF is or was.

I did find a mention of the word oaf in one of the Google listings, used in a way I've never seen it:
"These school oaf- icials must have lower IQs than their shoe sizes. ..."

> not mine, boyo


yeah, I wuz aware as I clicked that I'd pinged the message above, but I thought "no one but max and the Staatspolizei will ever know..." ;)

[flat earth forever!]