ocker

See also: Ocker

English

WOTD – 26 June 2011

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɒkə/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒkə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

From Middle English ocker, oker, from Old Norse ókr (“usury”), from Proto-Germanic *wōkraz (“progeny, earnings, profit”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂weg- (“to add, increase”). More at oker.

Noun

ocker (plural ockers)

1. (now chiefly dialectal) Interest on money; usury; increase.

Verb

ocker (third-person singular simple present ockers, present participle ockering, simple past and past participle ockered)

1. (transitive, now chiefly dialectal) To increase (in price); add to.

Derived terms

• ockerer
• ockering

Etymology 2

From Ocker, pet form of the name Oscar; popularised in a series of television sketches where the word was used as a general nickname.

Noun

ocker (plural ockers)

1. (slang, Australia) A boorish or uncultivated Australian.
   • 1987, James Oram, Hogan: The Story of a Son of Oz‎, page 69:

     But Willesee was finding that entertaining ockers were in short supply. Ockers who could fart and belch and drop their trousers were plentiful. There was no shortage of ockers who could sing bawdy songs and abuse Poms and chunder on cue.

   • 1990, “Meanjin”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎, volume 49, University of Melbourne, page 139:

     In terms of formal ‘experimentation’ Williamson proved to be the most conservative; Don′s Party was the most realist of contemporary texts. Here, an entire tribe of Ockers may be observed within the confines of the suburban sprawl.

   • 2011 May 23, Ronald Bergan, The Guardian:

     For many Australians, the screen persona of the character actor Bill Hunter, who has died of cancer aged 71, was the archetypal "ocker", an uncultivated Australian working man who enjoys beer, "barbies", Aussie rules football and V8 supercars.

Derived terms

• ockerdom
• ockerette
• ockerina
• ockering
• ockerisation
• ockerise
• ockerised
• ockerish
• ockerism
• ockerist
• ockerland
• ocker up

Adjective

ocker (comparative more ocker, superlative most ocker)

1. (slang, Australia) Uncultivated; boorish.
   • 1973, Leslie Rees, A History of Australian Drama: Australian drama in the 1970s, Sydney: Angus & Robertson:

     page 44: What a contrast was Jack Hibberd's next exercise—from highbrow obscurantism to a show that was to spray the audiences of a score of theatres with the ockerest of ocker humour and set them going off to tell their friends. It was a play destined to set Jack Hibberd on the road to legendary popularity and financial wealth (in playwright terms, anyway).

   • 1984, Sandra Jobson, Blokes, page 11:

     I sidled up to a particularly Ocker character on the edge of a group and nervously explained my mission.

   • 1992Will Self, Cock and Bull, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     ‘Non-erotic male bonding, that’s the thing isn’t it; what our ocker cousins call “mateyness”.’

   • 2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, page 182:

     Dave comes across like an ocker Australian.

   • 2007, Phillip William Hughes, Opening Doors to the Future: Stories of Prominent Australians and the Influence of Teachers‎, page 133:

     In addition to these specialist skills he showed his individuality at school where he preferred karate to rugby and when his more ocker classmates went to celebrate in pubs he went with a friend to Chinese restaurants.

   • 2008, Robert Crawford, But Wait, There's More!: A History of Australian Advertising, 1900-2000‎, page 179:

     Singo′s subsequent campaigns became more creative, developing a louder, brasher, and decidedly more ocker image in the process.

   • 2008, David P. Reiter, Primary Instinct‎, page 93:

     His name is Bob Snapes, and you don′t get any more ocker than him.

   • 2011 January 25, Emily Portell, Herald Sun, Melbourne:

     Melbourne surf shop Mordy Surf triggered outrage after posting the YouTube clip, in which an ocker man says he is "gonna get a glass and smash it on some poof", on its website.

See also

• Ocker

References

• The Oxford Companion to Australian Cricket, ed. Cashman, Franks, Maxwell, Stoddart, Weaver and Webster, Oxford University Press, 1996, →ISBN p.562
• Australian word 'Ocker' — Australian words — Australian National Dictionary Centre — ANU.

Anagrams

• Coker, Croke, Korçë, coker