[Ads-l] "how are you off for soap?"

[mr_peter_morris@outlook.com]

You don't list the earlier texts.
Here's a cite from November 1818.  Did you know about this?

https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Cambridge_Besieged_Or_The_Rehearsal_of_a/K4feUG2jzDEC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22off+for+soap%22&pg=PA65&printsec=frontcover

"How are you off for soap, you unwashed Musselman?"

Seems to me it's attacking the other person's personal hygiene.


------ Original Message ------
From "Stephen Goranson" 
<0000179d4093b2d6-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
To ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Date 10/12/2024 21:04:53
Subject "how are you off for soap?"

>OED 1834
>In the slang phrase, how are you off for soap?
>The early examples afford no clue as to the origin of the expression, and their date is against the view that the sense of ‘money’ (see below) was intended.
>
>Several earlier texts suggest that this means unwashed, as in
>How are you—being as you are so—off for soap?
>
>sg
>
>
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org