One Trivia Quiz

Answer: he's a well-dressed dandy

"One of the Lord's own" was classed as American slang, and was "a dandy; one who is eminent as regards form, style, and chic." It also could refer to "a daisy, a stunner, or first-classer." One can imagine a person who was dressed up, acting superior to others, being called one of the Lord's own, or in other words, a person who thought himself to be special and above others, whether he was or not.

It was listed in "A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant Embracing English, American, and Anglo-Indian Slang, Pidgin English, Gypsies' Jargon and Other Irregular Phraseology, Volume 2" by Albert Barrere and Chares G. Leland (London: George Bell, 1897).

Answer: he's one of our group, go ahead and talk

"One of the lads" is reported in Australia and the British Isles as the equivalent to the Americanism "One of the boys." Both phrases were noted in "Dictionary of Americanisms, Briticisms, Canadianisms and Australianisms" by V.S. Matyushenkov, 2010, and also in "A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English" by Eric Partridge.

The Online Etymology Dictionary says "One of the boys" meaning an "ordinary amiable fellow" dates from 1893.

Answer: a pastor

"One-in-ten" is 19th Century British slang for a parson, referring to his expectation that each faithful follower would be tithing, or paying ten percent of their income annually. It comes from "The Slang Dictionary, Or, The Vulgar Words, Street Phrases, and 'Fast' Expressions of High and Low Society" (London: J.C. Hotten, 1874).

"Cassell's Dictionary of Slang" by Jonathon Green, 2005, dates it from the late 17th Century to the mid 19th Century, and it appears in a number of slang dictionaries from that era.

Answer: a little, insignificant one

"One-horse" was American slang that could apply to anything, as long as it was small and unimportant: "A one-horse bank, a one-horse town, a one-horse insurance company, a one-horse candidate, are depreciatory epithets that are thoroughly understood," according to "A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant Embracing English, American, and Anglo-Indian Slang, Pidgin English, Gypsies' Jargon and Other Irregular Phraseology, Volume 2" by Albert Barrere and Chares G. Leland (London: George Bell, 1897).

The Online Etymology Dictionary dates it to 1853 and says it meant "small-scale, petty... in reference to towns so small they only had one horse."

Answer: wonst, one syllable

"Onst (pron. wunst). Once. A common vulgar pronunciation, especially in the West. And so twiste for 'twice.'" That was the entry from "Bartlett's Dictionary of Americanisms" by John Russell Bartlett, 1859. The "Facts on File Dictionary of American Regionalisms" by Robert Hendrickson, 2000, says "mountain people often add a "t" to many words, as in oncet, twicet, suddent and cleft."

Answer: that's a poor little town, not worth booking in

A one-eyed town was theatrical slang, and was "a disparaging term for some small town or theatre which somebody has visited to his sorrow," according to "A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant, Volume 2" by Albert Barrere and Chares G. Leland (London: George Bell, 1897).

The Oxford English Dictionary says one-eyed was used for something "small, inferior, inadequate, unimportant, esp. of a town."

Answer: presenting or promoting only one viewpoint, same meaning as today

"One-sided" was as early as 1833, "dealing with one side of a question or dispute," according to the Online Etymology Dictionary.

The phrase shows up often in the 19th Century, with the same usage as the modern phrase. For example, from the British humor magazine Punch, Oct. 6, 1855, there's this example: "It strikes me, that one-sided views are not always the best. Is it not rather the duty of a philosopher to draw his conclusions from both sides? It is only a barrister who has a right to be 'one-sided.' He is hired expressly to advocate only one side."

Answer: don't lie to me; you're fibbing

"One" meant "a fib or lie" in the context of "don't tell me one," a phrase which was "constantly in the popular mouth," according to "A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant, Volume 2" by Albert Barrere and Chares G. Leland (London: George Bell, 1897).

Answer: he has one eye

One and a peppermint-drop was late 19th or 1900 era slang for "a person with only 1 eye," according to "Cassell's Dictionary of Slang" by Jonathon Green, 2005. It was "low London -- 1909" according to "A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English" by Eric Partridge.

Answer: she stands out in some way

"The Old Curiosity Shop" by Charles Dickens included the line, "Miss Sally's such a one-er for that, she is." It's also later spelled wunner.

"The American Slang Dictionary" by James Maitland, 1891, explained that "One-er [is] a Cockneyism for a person distinguished for something good or bad as the case may be."