Out of Pocket

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Fri, Oct 24, 2008 at 01:52:41PM -0400, David Metevia wrote:
> I usually associate this phrase with expenses, specifically health care
> expenses not covered by insurance.  However, I hear both work colleagues
> and friends & family use the term to describe people who are unavailable
> (under the weather, out sick, or just incommunicado).  This sounds
> strange to me.

I think we've discussed this on the list before.  DARE labels
this "Chiefly southern and South Midland", with examples back
to 1967; OED pushes this back to 1946, from Ohio.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED

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