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I haven't hijacked one of twuwm's wwftd recently, and this isn't exactly a highjack. He gives "dosh" as British slang for "money". By accident I found that Issue 98 of "Take Our Word For It" has several paragraphs about this word in the segment called "Words to the Wise". http://www.takeourword.com/Issue098.htmlFor a good article on slang: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/ip/jasminelassen/Slang%202.html There I found meaning for another bit of British slang that I had been unable to understand: "one-off" as in "nonce word = one-off coinage"
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
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I'm very surprised to learn that 'one-off' is considered slang, or not always understood. It would never have occurred to me to question it. Perhaps it's from some specific trade (a one-off job: some kind of manufacture, or tailoring or something of that nature perhaps).
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear wwh:
Thanks for the "Take Our Word for It" site. Your link worked fine this morning, by the way. Lots to plunder there. I especially enjoyed the discussion about the origin of Union Jack.
Best regards,
WW
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Carpal Tunnel
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Sweet Nicholas--it's delightful to see you! <Enormous Grin>
"One-off" is never heard, here. I've picked up the meaning by context, from my Brit-speaking friends on the board. I believe the last time I heard it, though, it wasn't in ref. to an object, exactly--I think it was used re: a journey
that was not going to be repeated.
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old hand
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old hand
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There's an underappreciated movie called "Funny Bones" - Oliver Platt, Jerry Lewis (don't let that stop you), and this super-gifted physical comedian named Lee Evans. In it, one of the devices that drives the plot is a human foot that washes ashore at Blackpool, England. In a press conference, the manager of the beach resort characterizes it as a one-off.  A couple of days later, *another* human foot washes ashore, and the press reconvenes. One of the reporters says "I thought you said it was a one-off." The manager, facing the press, insists "Well, of course it's a one-off. Two feet, but off one *person*"  The very blackest of comedies... if you go for that kind of thing, as I do, I recommend it. But that was my first exposure to the term - and that's forever how I'll remember it.
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member
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I too am surprised that "one-off" is considered slang. 'Round these parts it is not considered slang, it is a perfectly reputable word!
From the OED:
b. one off: a single example of a manufactured product; something not repeated; a prototype. Freq. (with hyphen) attrib. or as adj. Also transf. and fig. Cf. off adv. 13, once-off adj. s.v. once adv. B. 7b.
The first use was:
1934 Proc. Inst. Brit. Foundrymen XXVI. 552 A splendid one-off pattern can be swept up in very little time.
Rouspéteur
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Carpal Tunnel
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I regret having called "one-off" slang. Obviously, from Rouspeteur's post, it is a recent coinage, suitable for use in fairly formal communication. I was surprised today to find it in my dictionary, British origin noted. The logic of its construction still eludes me. Since I do not know a US close equivalent, I may eventually find it useful.
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Carpal Tunnel
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>Since I do not know a US close equivalent...
one-shot
>The logic of its construction...
it's from a little used form of the adverb off:
with a preceding numeral to represent a quantity in production or manufacture, I'd look at it as 'off the (normal) production stream/line'.
1947 Crowther & Whiddington Science at War Manufacturers found it very difficult to give up mass production, in order to make the 200 or so sets ‘off’. 1970 Cabinet Maker & Retail Furnisher Without barrier coats mould breakdown can start after 60 units off. 1973 Physics Bull., Kienzle printers. 6 off, surplus to manufacturing requirements.
one-off therefore being the most extreme level of 'off' you can attain. :)
None of the motor-cars illustrated is a standardized mass-produced model; all are expensive, specialized, handicraft one-offs which can justly be compared to the Parthenon because, like it, they are unique works of handmade art.
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Carpal Tunnel
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I must share others' astonishment that "one-off" is regarded as slang or even unusual. The origin comes from pattern-making, as I understand it. A one-off was originally cast from a cheaply-made sand mould which was destroyed in the process. Hence one off the pattern or mould. Now, if only I had the dosh to buy that Oxford Modern Terms book I saw the other day ... 
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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old hand
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old hand
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Somewhat belatedly I'll chime in with astonishment at the seeming lack of gobal utilisation of this phrase! Must be a Brit Commonwealth thing by the looks of those of us that know it.
I see it inhabiting the same basket as the recently discussed "run of the mill" in that it's a manufacturing / production term.
Not to be confused with "one of" - normally present on a parts list (and written "1X" in a table on the production drawing) to indicate that the finished item only requires one of a particular component. (Just to confuse things, the production drawing for a "one off" product would no doubt have a few "one of" items on the parts list!)
Now, don't tell me you don't use the phrase "one of"?
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