One Online Trivia | Varieties of English

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. A man walks by, in the late 19th Century U.S. You overhear one person say about him to another, "There goes one of the Lord's own." What are they saying about him, assuming they're using slang and not being literal?

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).

2. "Don't worry. He's one of the lads," says an Englishman in the 1890s about a man who's just walked up to join your private conversation. What does that mean?

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.

3. Who is a "one-in-ten"? A person might think of gruesome forms of decimating the enemy, but without shepherding you through to the answer, I'll just say that this is based on another common word meaning a tenth.

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.

4. If someone lives in a one horse town, what sort of town does he live in, according to 19th Century American slang?

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."

5. How was a 19th Century lower-class westerner in the U.S. apt to pronounce the word "once"?

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."

6. "That's a one-eyed town," says an actor, in a discussion about where to plan future performances. It's the 19th Century, England. What does he mean?

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."

7. A mid-19th Century Englishman complains the newspaper is taking a decidedly one-sided point of view. What does he mean?

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."

8. "I just got hired as a bank teller!" says a shabby illiterate friend. "Don't tell me one," you reply, in the slang of 19th Century England. What do you mean?

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).

9. Around 1900, a man is referred to as "one and a peppermint drop." What does this tell you about him?

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.

10. Miss Sally Brass is called a "one-er," in 19th Century England. What does that mean?

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."

Source: Author littlepup

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor looney_tunes before going online.
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One Trivia Quiz

"One" has been part of various slang phrases for the last couple of centuries, from America to England to Australia. Here's just a small sampling.

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