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odds and sods
Jul. 22nd, 2024 07:58 amOkay, decks are cleared and all external obligations have been settled enough to avoid further interference, so back to regular posting -- with a theme week, the 4th installment of alphabetic entries from Green's Dictionary of Slang:
odds and sods - (Brit.) miscellaneous people or things.
With a connotation large enough to almost be denotation of being small and unimportant -- odds and ends, only you usually wouldn't apply that to people. That last sense is important as it's actually it's origin: it's WWI slang, used for “details” attached to Battalion Headquarters for miscellaneous offices, people such as officer's batmen, or professional footballers on nominal duties. If this originated in the trenches (I'm unclear on that) no wonder it has a derogatory tone.
Bonus word: the Old Doss
---L.
odds and sods - (Brit.) miscellaneous people or things.
With a connotation large enough to almost be denotation of being small and unimportant -- odds and ends, only you usually wouldn't apply that to people. That last sense is important as it's actually it's origin: it's WWI slang, used for “details” attached to Battalion Headquarters for miscellaneous offices, people such as officer's batmen, or professional footballers on nominal duties. If this originated in the trenches (I'm unclear on that) no wonder it has a derogatory tone.
Bonus word: the Old Doss
---L.
