When Did "One Off" Take Off?

[Iconoclast]

Doesn't the Diary's provenance make it 99.999999999999999999999999999999999999999 per cent likely that it's a hoax?

To be clear, dear readers, the scrapbook has no provenance yet because its origins remain unconfirmed.

There are claims and counter-claims, evidence which might answer the question, and testimonies which thoroughly contradict one another.

What we do not yet have is the proven provenance.

[John Wheat]

To be clear, dear readers, the scrapbook has no provenance yet because its origins remain unconfirmed.

There are claims and counter-claims, evidence which might answer the question, and testimonies which thoroughly contradict one another.

What we do not yet have is the proven provenance.

A load of rubbish. I stand by what I've said.

[Lombro2]

Here's a wider timeline based on British sources.
So using the term makes it very likely, but not certain, that the diary was a hoax.

Okay, that seems like a fair comeback. That backs up the other Michael B's point.

But I still say, No. The British examples from prior to 1990 are largely from books on manufacturing, Hansard, and Glasgow newspapers. They would still represent a fraction of a fraction or .0000004% of British English books. And we're not talking fiction books. Again, the term only took off in fiction and therefore the popular print in 2000.




Unless you have specialized interests or knowledge or run with the right crowd, who would know this term in 1992? I was there in 1992. I read Shirley Harrison in 1993. I live in a Commonwealth country and I wouldn't know the term meant something unique or a one-shot deal unless Shirley Harrison explained it.

The other Michael B heard the term but he said he worked in a foundry. Caz knew the term, whenever she read the Diary book, and she said she had an uncle in a foundry who used the term. Why would they have to mention that if the term was popular?

Michael Barrett would have had to have specialized knowledge and then he probably would have had to coin the term "one off instance" himself. But he's a genius and a Liverpudlian. What can I say?

[Lombro2]

I don't believe shifting the onus, changing the subject, or misrepresentation. But since, we're on the subject...

What we do not yet have is the proven provenance.

Okay, okay, Ike. We're working on it.

One day, I'm sure, we'll find that man with the Liverpool accent who sold Stewart the watch in the 60s, and the bill of sale, and we'll find that Outhwaite auction ticket and the auction house inventory with the Diary described perfectly--

"Vintage Edwardian notebook used as a photo album with some maritime photos and postcards and at least 60 blank pages, some staining on the inside cover. Lot includes a one-off square compass."