# The word "Oi"



## chaosfactorxx

Just wondering your thoughts on the word? I know kids that use it entirely too much and kids that fucking HATE it. Personally I use it, mostly because it gets kids attention and mostly because I'm just used to it at his point. I had a kid freak out at me screaming "my name's not fucking OI!" because i said to too him once to get his attention. I dunno. I'm just curious about people's opion I guess.


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## bryanpaul

nice.... kinda silly..kinda dumb.. but also a relevant thread........ yeah i guess it's just like any other "culturally exclusive"(?) word......on one hand it's like "oh god, these fuckin oogly crusttards wont stop OIing at me" but on the other handit kinda helps identify folks in our culture.... i dunno, i think it's kind of cool to have words and phrases that are sort of exclusive to us........ as much as the rainbow kid talk annoys me i think it's cool that folks have a verbal culture....and with the train riding community i think its cool to have words that can help let folks know that your "in the scene"... as much as i might crack jokes on "oi" and carharts and face tats and shit...when i see some travelin folk i'll say "oi....whats up"......it's nice to be a part of a scene/culture....... same with a rag on yer neck...it actually kinda sux tho..cuz wearin a rag seems to be pretty hip these days.... i'll see somebody witta backpack and bandana around their neck and be like "oh hey, you on the rails too dood?" and they look at me like im a idiot................................basically my dumb point is..... our culture is just that ...a culture... and as much as i like to poke fun at the crusty travelin kid stereotypes....it's nice to have our own terms and words and jokes and shit.... OI


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## river dog

its like manowar, you can have fun knowing the joke AND partaking in it. i say oi, it gets peoples attention and i like it. jargon is good


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## acrata4ever

i say hoi (hoy) its dutch. it means hello from a distance or far away.


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## TBone

I like using it going into a known jungle at night to put anyone that might be camped at ease knowing it's not a cop behind the light. It's not an issue with me either way.


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## Eng JR Lupo RV323

I personally hate it. It takes me back to the early 90's Fifteen playing on stage, skinheads come in crackin bottles over some random peoples heads in the crowd startin fights like some douche bags. The music stops Jeff Ott says goodbye, they pack and leave 5 minutes into the set. The only thing I remember hearing out of the skinheads mouths was oi oi oi. That's what that stupid word means to me. It has it's ties to rascism and some of the shittiest memories I have as well. I at one point started playing an MMO that I will not go any further into cause it's embarassing but I will mention it was overflowing with Australians. They would always type this thing into world chat that I guess resembled the douche bag chant "USA USA USA" they'd chant "Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi" and that shit got on my nerves too. It's a dumb ass word, that's my take. But like Bryan said, say it all you want.. it helps us identify. I personally expect to see bottles weilded when I hear it so that's how you're seen in my eyes.. a dick, for lack of a better way to say it. Of course I'm not such an ass I'd generalize someone from past experiences to the point I wouldn't even give them a chance, but it does cause some anxiety at first... that's just me.


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## L.C.

Like the engineer said, its a skinhead term. Punk and skinheads have been a love, hate relationship through the years. Weather we like it or not punk and skinhead culture are so far apart, but so close in other ways. Many times I've had blacks confuse punks with skinheads. I'm sure most of you have heard of "oi punk". Like others said its a part of the culture, and I personally no longer relate the word to skinheads.


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## TBone

It's basically what fag is to cigarette as oi is to hey or chips are to fries. Skins put a bad name on something else. Astonishing...


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## 40 Hands

bryanpaul said:


> .it's nice to be a part of a scene/culture....... same with a rag on yer neck...it actually kinda sux tho..cuz wearin a rag seems to be pretty hip these days.... i'll see somebody witta backpack and bandana around their neck and be like "oh hey, you on the rails too dood?" and they look at me like im a idiot



Dunno but we call em skanks (bandannas) and ive seen it picking up popularity ever since crusties have been showin up in town more often. I was at the local ghetto shop the other day and some really urban chick was rockin a skank and told us how she picked it up from us. we were like its great from dodgin cops and gettin shot at huh?! lol only on the wrong side of town of course


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## slurricane

scummy train kid lingo in general is pretty obnoxious. 'shwag' is the worst, but 'oi' is definitely up there, always has been always will be.


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## Vonuist

TBone said:


> It's basically what fag is to cigarette as oi is to hey or chips are to fries. Skins put a bad name on something else. Astonishing...



Exactly so.
Coming from a working class English background it's just a noise we use to get someone's attention.
It's quite a versatile word and I use it a lot, mainly when training my dog as I save the much more emphatic "No" for really serious occassions like sheep and traffic.

Until I read this thread I had no idea that it had such resonance in the US.

What a to-do.


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## DaisyDoom

slurricane said:


> scummy train kid lingo in general is pretty obnoxious. 'shwag' is the worst, but 'oi' is definitely up there, always has been always will be.



Shwag? Like low grade pot?


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## bicycle

i think oi is just english accent for hey or something like that


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## slurricane

DaisyDoom said:


> Shwag? Like low grade pot?


i think shwag is just a term for low grade anything. havent you ever heard dumb oogie foogies screaming from the top of their lungs at their canine companions? 'SHWAG DOG SHWAG DOG BLAH BLAH BLAH FUCK BLAH SWAGGY SHWAG'..etc


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## DaisyDoom

No haha...I've only heard it in reference to weed. I'm not a train kid though lol. I've also only heard foreign people and my stupid old roommate say "Oi"...aside from songs that is.


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## bryanpaul

slurricane said:


> \ havent you ever heard dumb oogie foogies screaming from the top of their lungs at their canine companions? 'SHWAG DOG SHWAG DOG BLAH BLAH BLAH FUCK BLAH SWAGGY SHWAG'..etc


hahaha....... "OI! boxcar, kick it dooown...shwaaag dooog!"


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## river dog

kick it down is one i havent heard since indy, coming from texas, schwag is definitly used solely for poor quality mexican ganja, and thats how it is...


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## Earth

I considered myself officially part of the Oi scene from say 1992 till the end of the decade...
Interesting thing, is during its prime - early 1980s - I considered myself more as a punk.

When I hear the word Oi today, I think of Blitz, The Business, Cockney Rejects, etc.........
It's a U.K. thing, which some in the states here got it right .
Its also something that I've always felt an afinity for.

Still remember being in the airport in London back in '81, enroute from W.Berlin back to N.Y.C.
I had on my Never Mind The Bollucks... shirt on (which I bought in Woolworths !!) and the Bobbies made no loss of time giving me a real hard time about that - and I was 16, living it.............

The word Oi brings me back to an era that I was proud to be a part of.
Good Times, People, and Bier !!


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## CXR1037

When I heard OI, I typically just keep walking because it's usually some punxxx as fock, "I BEEN RIDIN' TRAINS FIR FI'TTY YEARS, BROTHER!", types. I hate those people and want nothing to do with them.


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## bryanpaul

CXR1037 said:


> I hate those people and want nothing to do with them.


when i see snooty fuck tards i usually walk the other way............ rest of rant deleted


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## dprogram

I say OI to get someones attention. It's nothing more than "HEY!" but in punx speak. And I really don't care if anyone disapproves. Guess I could just say "Hey. You! In the black t-shirt and nasty ass jeans! Yeah You!. No Not you but YOU!" Oi is just easier.


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## slurricane

bryanpaul said:


> hahaha....... "OI! boxcar, kick it dooown...shwaaag dooog!"


i can only like this one time?? i likes multiple times.


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## slurricane

dprogram said:


> I say OI to get someones attention. It's nothing more than "HEY!" but in punx speak. And I really don't care if anyone disapproves. Guess I could just say "Hey. You! In the black t-shirt and nasty ass jeans! Yeah You!. No Not you but YOU!" Oi is just easier.


but if you yell ANYTHING in a public setting EVERYONE will look anyway.


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## Sydney

L.C. said:


> Like the engineer said, its a skinhead term. Punk and skinheads have been a love, hate relationship through the years. Weather we like it or not punk and skinhead culture are so far apart, but so close in other ways. Many times I've had blacks confuse punks with skinheads. I'm sure most of you have heard of "oi punk". Like others said its a part of the culture, and I personally no longer relate the word to skinheads.


Lets not forget the true history of skinheads. There are "good" skins out there, traditional skins of every race. I know black, brown and white skinheads that listen to ska and are just working class traditional skins.


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## slurricane

many of the first traditional skinheads were jamaican rudeboys, very dark.


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## Dead horse

Someone told me it meant "oh brother" in norwegian


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## CXR1037

<3 braynpaul <3


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## Eng JR Lupo RV323

slurricane said:


> many of the first traditional skinheads were jamaican rudeboys, very dark.


I don't think you could be further from the truth. I'm pretty well absorbed into Jamaican history and culture and I've never read or seen such a thing. The only reference I can think of you may be drawing this from is the song "Crazy Baldheads" by Bob or possibly searching Wikipedia for the word skinhead. Niether of which confirm what you're claiming. The Bob song isn't addressing skinheads by any means, more so those stiff necked fools, suits and ties, government, etc. The Wiki reference to skinheads and rudeboys was stating that in the earlier days skinheads were *interested* in the rudeboy style and culture, before reggae music itself became more focussed on black nationalism and the Rastafari movement(which basically boils down to- once it embraced color, they washed their hands of it). Maybe I'm all wrong, maybe you're citing many other references all together and I'm not as schooled on the subject as I thought, if so enlighten me please, because I had no idea rudeboys were some or "many of the first traditional skinheads"


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## Eng JR Lupo RV323

bryanpaul said:


> when i see snooty fuck tards i usually walk the other way............ rest of rant deleted


Bryan, CSX1037, Could you two pause this about 4-5 minutes? I'd like to get some popcorn but I don't wanna miss anything.


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## CooperBoo

bryanpaul said:


> nice.... kinda silly..kinda dumb.. but also a relevant thread........ yeah i guess it's just like any other "culturally exclusive"(?) word......on one hand it's like "oh god, these fuckin oogly crusttards wont stop OIing at me" but on the other handit kinda helps identify folks in our culture.... i dunno, i think it's kind of cool to have words and phrases that are sort of exclusive to us........ as much as the rainbow kid talk annoys me i think it's cool that folks have a verbal culture....and with the train riding community i think its cool to have words that can help let folks know that your "in the scene"... as much as i might crack jokes on "oi" and carharts and face tats and shit...when i see some travelin folk i'll say "oi....whats up"......it's nice to be a part of a scene/culture....... same with a rag on yer neck...it actually kinda sux tho..cuz wearin a rag seems to be pretty hip these days.... i'll see somebody witta backpack and bandana around their neck and be like "oh hey, you on the rails too dood?" and they look at me like im a idiot................................basically my dumb point is..... our culture is just that ...a culture... and as much as i like to poke fun at the crusty travelin kid stereotypes....it's nice to have our own terms and words and jokes and shit.... OI


 ya drunk right now?


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## dprogram

Okay. like I said before. It's meant to somewhat of a term of a beckon. A call. A Ello. Get over the "term" you wankers!


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## dprogram

Wanky fucks!


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## slurricane

Engineer Jason Roseville said:


> I don't think you could be further from the truth. I'm pretty well absorbed into Jamaican history and culture and I've never read or seen such a thing."


i mean by this jamaican rude boys living in the united kingdom, atleast i think they were of jamaican origin as if they'd moved to the united kingdom. they still kept their accents i know this much, my mother growing up was a trojan 'skinbird', i was always around these goups of people including some directly from the bahamas and the uk so i'm just laying down my first hand experience, i'm not an encyclopedia.


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## Eng JR Lupo RV323

slurricane said:


> i'm just laying down my first hand experience, i'm not an encyclopedia.


No worries, not here to argue with ya, it was just news to me what you were stating. You look to be about mid to late 20's in age and your claim was "many of the first traditional skinheads were jamaican rudeboys". I guess when you put the word "first" in there I made the silly assumption you were talking about some of the first skinheads which were popping up in the 60's. I guess you meant the first ones *you* had a first hand experience in meeting, I don't know? Doesn't matter, silly topic is silly.


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## Sydney

Read this!!!!! I don't know this guy, but I know a lot of black and Mexican skinheads in Cali, One I went to high school with. He was a Mexican skin and he even had an Oi band called The Bombshell boys. I also went to see The Business once and met and older (late 40's) black skinhead. But I see a lot of skins of every race when I go to certain ska or Oi shows. They've all been super cool and nice.
http://www.afropunk.com/profiles/blogs/an-oxymorons-dream-the-black


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## Sydney

slurricane said:


> many of the first traditional skinheads were jamaican rudeboys, very dark.


she's totally right!


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## Eng JR Lupo RV323

oh hell.


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## Vonuist




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## slurricane

im not in my mid to late 20's, i am newly 20, and man i know my shit


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## Eng JR Lupo RV323

Fair enough


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## TBone

Bottom line, who gives a shit? This is like "The View" except with people who bought a Crass album and sewed a Subhumans patch on there Carhartts. Aren't we supposed to be sharing pertinent information on shit that actually helps or matters? "hey trying to get out of Sioux Falls, just got a rat and a dog, thinking of leaving my house for the first time. Any suggestions on getting to Tallahassee?" " I hate when people say schwilly." I know this is "General Banter" but this is general bullshit. Fuck. Bring back the Train section too.


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## Vonuist

TBone said:


> Bottom line, who gives a shit? This is like "The View" except with people who bought a Crass album and sewed a Subhumans patch on there Carhartts. Aren't we supposed to be sharing pertinent information on shit that actually helps or matters? "hey trying to get out of Sioux Falls, just got a rat and a dog, thinking of leaving my house for the first time. Any suggestions on getting to Tallahassee?" " I hate when people say schwilly." I know this is "General Banter" but this is general bullshit. Fuck. Bring back the Train section too.



Why do you assume that they are all fakes?


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## Eng JR Lupo RV323

TBone said:


> Bottom line, who gives a shit? This is like "The View" except with people who bought a Crass album and sewed a Subhumans patch on there Carhartts. Aren't we supposed to be sharing pertinent information on shit that actually helps or matters? "hey trying to get out of Sioux Falls, just got a rat and a dog, thinking of leaving my house for the first time. Any suggestions on getting to Tallahassee?" " I hate when people say schwilly." I know this is "General Banter" but this is general bullshit. Fuck. Bring back the Train section too.


As much as I fully agree with you on so many levels, one thing I'm pretty certain of is if the forum was strictly business as you're suggesting, it wouldn't thrive. I think you need to have a little chit chat in with the useful stuff. For one, it helps to mask the goodies. If you put all your items of value on your front lawn, thieves won't have much trouble making off with it. You tuck that shit under a bunch of garbage, they're gonna have to go looking for it. General banter yo! What exactly do you expect?
That could be another reason to not have the trains section, it is obviously a section we need to make sure the wrong things aren't being said far more than any other topic, so for the wrong person to stroll in, they'd know right where to go. You layer trains under hitching, between someone asking suggested techniques on ramming dildos up their boyfriends asses, next to what should I name my new rat, they're not digging through all that nonsense to find something someone shouldn't have mentioned about trains.. that's just my thoughts on it.


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## TBone

Alcohol fueled rant after a shitty night. I apologize.


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## CXR1037

Hey, I like trains.


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## Eng JR Lupo RV323

Hadn't noticed


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## dprogram

CXR1037 said:


> Hey, I like trains.


Personally afraid of them but deeply intrigued.


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## Deleted member 3948

Watched in a documentary the word oi came from a nat Zi advertisement, it was picked up by skins who were into a racist group called the national front.


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## Hazardoussix6six

oi means friendly, like thunder..lightning.
oi to me is friendly. someone walking up at night and I get an OI welcome. my dog knows the same. OI is always friendly.


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## Anagor

Well, being from Germany (no one is using this word there) and travelling mostly around England in the last years of course I picked up the word "Oi" ... but for me (and in the context I heard it from my friends) it's just another word for "Hi" or "Hey" ... just to draw attention to myself or someone or something.

No special, deep meaning. Mostly just the punk/vagabond/dirty kid/whatever meaning of "Excuse me, may I say something" or "HELLO guys, I'm here!!!"


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## starfarer

My ten cents worth,oi was a style of punk popular in the 80s. Lots and lots of sixties skinheads were black! YouTube Lauren Aitken" skinhead" !!!! Many read skins hate what they call boneheads aka nazi/oi skins. Now the weather


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## roughdraft

that's the correct way to specifically say 'hey' in Brazil -"oi" - so it exists in at least that type of Portuguese.

apparently there's more than one way to oi an oinker


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## Wanderingwolf5150

chaosfactorxx said:


> Just wondering your thoughts on the word? I know kids that use it entirely too much and kids that fucking HATE it. Personally I use it, mostly because it gets kids attention and mostly because I'm just used to it at his point. I had a kid freak out at me screaming "my name's not fucking OI!" because i said to too him once to get his attention. I dunno. I'm just curious about people's opion I guess.


By


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## Wanderingwolf5150

chaosfactorxx said:


> Just wondering your thoughts on the word? I know kids that use it entirely too much and kids that fucking HATE it. Personally I use it, mostly because it gets kids attention and mostly because I'm just used to it at his point. I had a kid freak out at me screaming "my name's not fucking OI!" because i said to too him once to get his attention. I dunno. I'm just curious about people's opion I guess.


My opinion is I really don't use it because I too have heard it way too often. I am guilty of it when first introduced in 1998 Jackson square new Orleans. I ran away from foster care and hitched out with some kids to Longview TX to start a helluva journey lol. I just about quit wearing skanks and actually look just normal. Kids sometimes be like I totally didn't realize you a hopper! Wow cause I didn't oi you or have a skank... Well that's because I am who I am and dont have to pretend to be what I'm not....(to those that wear black skanks to be cool and become agro not even know what it is)...... Wandering wolf. Just my opinion.


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## MFB

Juan Derlust said:


> My grandma often said it, usually in conjunction with 'vey' - as in 'Oi vey'
> 
> Apparently cultural misappropriation has been going on for quite some time...



Meshegenah!


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## Coywolf

Oi to me is deeply rooted in early punk and ska music. I dont really use it anymore.

This is definitely not originally a skinhead term. They took that shit over.


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## MolotovMocktail

This thread is old as fuck but I'm glad it got resurrected because it's a funny one.

I recently realized the only time I say "oi" is when a driver isn't paying attention and I need to yell something to get their attention so they don't hit me. It doesn't happen often but for some reason whenever it does, the word that instinctively comes out of my mouth is a resounding "*Oi!*"


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## MFB

i say 'oi' when I'm feeling physically beat up, and have to stand up from sitting or bend over and it hurts. Im old. Oi.


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