Dishing in line

Douglas G. Wilson douglas at NB.NET
Tue Jun 12 17:21:09 UTC 2001


>Here in central Ohio people use the term "dish" to describe the act of
>stepping in front of someone in line without their permission.

This looks like a version of the venerable "dish" =
"cheat"/"frustrate"/"overcome"/"circumvent". This is/was generally
transitive. OED has it from 1798. This was apparently common in late 19th
Century UK politics ("dishing the Whigs", 1867; "the Whigs had been
dished", 1899). American slang dictionaries show this verb too. Maybe just
a coincidence, though.

-- Doug Wilson



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