The Diary—Old Hoax or New?

[Iconoclast]

Not only that but the expression isn't used again for decades, and only then in a strict techinical sense: it doesn't seem to have entered common usage.

In 27 years, despite extensive research, no researcher has been able to find any common usage of the expression in the pre Second World War period. And as I've pointed out, hoping that something will turn up id a Mr Micawber approach to the subject.

I refer you to my post #194.

[Iconoclast]

The issue is this. If the diary is genuine then Maybrick would have invented, and used, an expression that no one would have understood at the time. Why woyld he have done that, as it would have been completely meaningless to the reader?

Which reader was Maybrick writing his scrapbook for exactly?

[Iconoclast]

For the most part, yes. And to find all of these expressions used in one comparatively short document is even more damning.

And we have copies of every written document and letter from 1888 onwards, do we? And each has been carefully reviewed?

[Iconoclast]

In what way was 'one off'used by Victorians?

The issue is not how it was used (that has yet to be shown). The issue is that it is not certain that it could not be used.

[Iconoclast]

Not when "regards" is a known tic of Mike Barrett. Not if "giving someone a call" became an expression that reached vernacular saturation-point after the advent of cheap, ubiquitous telephony. Not when taking "mayhem" to mean "chaos" as it was increasingly used in (the latter half of) the 20th century. Not when "top myself" became more than just prison slang in a similar time-scale.

"Regards" is not a tic! Once again you are being prejudicial. This is a term used commonly. I use it myself. Once again, this may be a northern England dialect issue, I don't know, but unless you know these things for certain, you should not be asserting them as fact.