fresh off the boat

Jesse Sheidlower jester at PANIX.COM
Tue Nov 30 19:35:15 UTC 2010


On Tue, Nov 30, 2010 at 08:12:59PM +0100, Paul Frank wrote:
> The expression "fresh off the boat" meaning recently immigrated to the
> United States is not in the OED or in DARE. It ought to be. The OED
> says that F.O.B. means "free on board," which for all I know it might,
> but to most people it means "fresh off the boat."

The OED also says that FOB n.(4) is "a recent immigrant", with
quotes back to 1968.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED

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