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Now, don't tell me you don't use the phrase "one of"? Not the way you did in your post, Sweetie, as an adjective by itself. We wouldn't have any "one of" items.
We have "one of a kind" items, or one of xyz number of items. Or we say, "that version is one of many", for ex.
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one offThe only time I've ever heard "one off" is in the context of "one off the mark"...you're just one off. I spent a lot of time with Brit friends (one a fellow mate on a tour boat for a whole summer), and others in the entertainment field, and I don't remember one-off ever coming up, because I'm sure I would have asked about it as I would any new expression or idiom...curious. black humor Enjoyed your little tale, Fiberbabe!  And if, as you say, black humor is your favorite, I hereby command you to go out and rent "Black Adder's Christmas" immediately (if you haven't seen it ), 'cause 'tis the season!
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Another of twuwms's wwftd. A Brit catch-all for various types of uncooperative, aggressive behaviour.
But it looking it up on Internet, I ran into another Britspeak item. One site said quarter of a million workers daily stay home from work because of on job stress symptoms. Those who do so without valid cause are called "skivers". I know the word "skive" meaning take a hide and split it into two layers, producing one of uniform thickness suitable for shoes, etc. I do not get the picture how the word got to mean "feign illness".
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our Brits may have a better answer for you bill, but this skiver is a different word; from the verb skive, of military issue, To evade a duty, to shirk; to avoid work by absenting oneself, to play truant. Also with off. [perh. ad. Fr. esquiver, to dodge, slink away, but see skive(2), To move lightly and quickly; to dart -- of obscure origin]
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Dear MaxQ: Since Zild is really big on sheep, I would be very much surprised if sheepskin leather were not an important commercial item there. The thinkness of hide varies so much, that splitting the hide as I described would be essential for many purposes. What would be the Zild word for such splitting?
Incidentally, "skive" is a very old word, not invented in US.
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journeyman
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That is the first time I have heard my hometown of Blackpool mentioned ( Funnybones is a dark and strangely compelling film) stroppy is a word i use a lot
as is skive , my dad tells me that he first heard "skive"
in the army in the 50's as in "I was supposed to be cleaning the latrines but i managed to skive off"
"stroppy" is what I get sometimes when the dosh,the wedge ,the wonga,the poke runs out and I am left "without a pot to piss in" totally "brassic"
the Duncster ( lethal bones)
the Duncster
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Re: totally brassic this is broke, flat, busted? lacking money? i think it is interesting that brass is so often used in UK english for money.. I have heard expensive things defined at costing good brass, and worthless things as not worth a brass farthing. but in the US, brass is usually nerve, verve or gall! monkeys aside, when some one has brass balls they have courage--foolhearty courage sometimes, or they are nervy-- and some one defined as brassy is loud and pushy-- the only association i have of brass with money, is from a pawn shop-- and that is fading fast, as pawn shops become fewer and fewer, and the few that are left rarely display the three brass balls i learned to associate with pawn shops. for more on pawn shops.. http://www.familypawn.com/about.htm
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Dear of troy: I read a long time ago that the first pawnbrokers were Lombards. . The Lombards were said to have taken lumber to secure loans, then branched out into other durable commodities. In UK, attic space where unused items are stored is called a "lumber room" by analogy to Lombard storage yards.
I found several sites giving legends about the origin of the three balls as indicating location of pawnbroker.
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