List of British Words Not Widely Used in The United States - O

O

OAP

Old Age Pensioner (qv) (US: Senior Citizen)

off-licence / offie

shop licensed to sell alcoholic beverages for consumption off the premises (US equivalent: liquor store). Known in some parts of N England as "selling-out shop".

off-the-peg

of clothes etc., ready-made rather than made to order (US: off-the-rack)

offal *

the entrails and internal organs of a butchered animal.

oi

coarse exclamation to gain attention, roughly equivalent to "hey" ("Oi, you!" = "Hey you!")

the Old Bill

(slang) The police - specifically the Metropolitan Police in London, but use of the term has spread to the surrounding Home Counties.

one-off *

something that happens only once; limited to one occasion (as an adjective, a shared synonym is one-shot; as a noun )

on the piss

(vulgar) drinking heavily; going out for the purpose of drinking heavily; at a slight angle, said of an object that should be vertical

Oriental *

used to describe the origin of a person from East Asia (China, Japan etc.) (US:Asian - N.B. In BrE, Asian is generally reserved for people from around the Indian sub-continent: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh etc.)

orientate *

less common alternative to orient, deprecated by some as an unnecessary back-formation from orientation

Other ranks

members of the military who are not commissioned officers. (US: Enlisted ranks)

overdraft

money used on a bank account making a debit balance ; the amount of the debit balance, an 'overdraft facility' is permission from a bank to draw to a certain debit balance.

overleaf *

on the other side of the page

owt

anything. Northern English. "Why aren't you saying owt?" See also 'nowt' - as in the phrase "can't get owt for nowt" meaning "can't get anything for nothing."

oy

See "oi".