THE CRAZY OIKLET 27

JULY 2013

Oiks

Fred Whitehead tipped me off about Steve Bell's Oik strip in the Guardian. The word Oik seems to be increasingly popular. Etym obs is the OED's tag. The word first appeared as recently as 1926 (see Introduction for the full OED entry) and was in use as Public School slang in 1940. One can imagine her maj using the term and certainly the PM. He and his Old Etonian pals used it to designate the current Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne who had the great misfortune to be educated at St Paul's. George's other great fault was to be descended from shopkeepers (the family makes wallpaper). Hague is quintessentially Oik being educated at a Rotherham comprehensive (but that's still no good reason for voting for him). In fact none of them is a proper oik, as a quick flip through any Crazy Oik will confirm.