Green’s Dictionary of Slang

boring, tedious, undistinguished; thus sameyness.

1929		E. Raymond Family that Was 49: The days that followed, becoming ‘samey’, like the old days with his governess at home.
1962		Listener 11 Jan. 90/3: All that ‘samey’ food and the lack of service.
1977		Oxford Times 9 Dec. 17/3: Their thick sound tends towards sameyness, but the songs have enough character to retain one’s interest [OED].
2002		Guardian 24 Aug. 🌐 Channel 4’s chief executive last night attacked British television as ‘dull, mechanical and samey,’ saying that most innovative programming now comes out of the United States.

one shilling (5p), esp. in the context of the charge for most contemporary places of entertainment.

1909

J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 214/2: Same o. b. (Peoples’, 1880). Abbreviation of ‘old bob’- this standing for shilling. Phrase has reference to the universal shilling entrance-fee to most ordinary places of information or amusement.

utterly unequal to, not to be compared with.

c.1895		R.H. Davis ‘How Hefty Burke Got Even’ 🌐 ‘They wouldn’t be in the same town with me,’ said Hefty. ‘And I’d get two of the prizes, sure.’.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 28 Jul. 14/4: But the horse-breaker, drover, station-hand (mounted), kangarooer, brumby-runner, or mail-rider is not in the same street as the bullocky, groom, rabbiter, and the generally-useless, in the matter of wrinkles.
1908		Bulletin (Sydney) 3 Sept. 28/4: But none of all the bunch / Is in the same compartment with / A pug who’s lost ’is punch.
1915		‘Tod Sloan’ Tod Sloan by Himself 149: I could never see [Tom Loates, a jockey] in the same street as his brother Sam.
1919		Lincs. Chron. 12 Apr. 6/6: [advert] The ordinary ready-mades sold [...] are ‘not in the same street’ with our clothing.
1938		Western Dly Press 24 Nov. 7/3: Not in the Same Street! ‘You shouldn’t play football in the streets: go and join the City’.
1953		K. Tennant Joyful Condemned 100: She told herself shyly, reverently, she wasn’t in the same street as Mr. Aumbry.
1957		D. Niland Call Me When the Cross Turns Over (1958) 224: Dorry Pettrick wasn’t in the same street with you, and never could be.

1. the third drink of a session.

1938

Sun. Dispatch (London) 3 July n.p.: Publand...first round is known as ‘one’, second as ‘the other half’, third as ‘same again’, fourth as ‘a final’, fifth as ‘one for the road’, sixth as ‘a binder’, and seventh as ‘swing o’ the door’ [DSUE].

2. a general response to an offer of another drink, usu. in a public house setting; as a query same again? it can be the offer.

1934		J. Franklyn This Gutter Life 81: Hi, Johnny, same again!
1956		J. Curtis Look Long Upon a Monkey 202: Listening must’ve made you as dry as talking has me. Same again, everybody?
1969		R. Rendell Best Man To Die (1981) 7: Same again, Bill, and have one yourself.
1986		F. Taylor Auf Wiedersehen Pet Two 64: Same again, is it?
1999		K. Sampson Powder 171: What we all drinking? Paddies, hey? Same again, yeah?

(orig. US black) a general expression to imply that nothing has changed in one’s life, used in response to a question as to one’s current health or feelings.

1949		Stars and Stripes (Pacific edn) 26 Aug. n.p: Same-o same-o.
1955		A. Norman ‘Bamboo English’ in AS XXX:1 46: The changey-changey, samey-samey phenomenon heard among the Japanese is responsible for samo-samo ‘the same’ in American slang.
1967		B. Rollins Danger Song 37: It was as Apple had said it, the same ol’ same ol’ every day, all week long, sitting in a classroom with forty others, most of them white.
1970		G. Scott-Heron Vulture (1996) 35: You know how it iz, man. Same old same o.
1972		O. Hawkins Ghetto Sketches 16: ‘What’s he sayin’ now, Thelma?’ ‘Same-o same-o.’.
1992		Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 47: Same Ol’ Same Ol’ Short for ‘same old thing’ or ‘same old shit.’ Same ol’ same ol’ is a response to the greeting, ‘Hi, how are you doing?’.
1996		(con. 1964-65) B. Thorpe Sex and Thugs and Rock ’n’ Roll 8: Doing the same ol’ same ol’ night after night.
2002		J. Lerner You Got Nothing Coming 59: ‘What’s up, dawg?’ ‘Same old same old.’ Which Kansas rendered as sameol’ same-o.
2004		L. Redhead Peepshow [ebook] ‘What was going on at the club’ [...] ‘Same old same old. Frank coked up and arrogant’.
2006		C. Carr Our Town 307: I crossed the room to say hello to [...] the ex-Black Panther. ‘Same old, same old, isn’t it?’ he said.
2013		K. Sampson Killing Pool 222: Same old same old. Moz Rozaki looking at me like I’m pigeon shit on his Hugo Boss lapel.

a weekly wage, six days at three shillings and fourpence a day gives £1 for a six-day week.

1909

J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era.

(orig. US black) life goes on as normal, with no surprises, good or bad.

1987		National Lampoon Dec. 112: [ad.] SAME SHIT DIFFERENT DAY.
1989		(con. 1982–6) T. Williams Cocaine Kids (1990) 127: Then after a while all of them wanted a piece. Same shit, different day.
1991		D. Gaines Teenage Wasteland 110: I ask about Susie. ‘Same shit.’.
2000		E. McGorman Life in the French Foreign Legion 74: I knew people who’d been in other armies [...] who said things were generally not much different than what they had seen before. Same shit, different pile, as the saying goes.
2001		S. King Dreamcatcher 6: What about SSDD? Whose brainstorm had that been? [Ibid.] 10: ‘How you doing, man?’ Beaver asks. ‘Oh, you know,’ Henry says. ‘Same shit, different day.’.
2007		L. Redhead Cherry Pie [ebook] ‘How were the shows?’[...] ‘You know. Same old shit, different day’.
2008		A. Wheatle Dirty South 207: ‘How you keeping?’ ‘Same shit, different toilets.’.
2018		J.-P. Jordan Joys of War 38: The Taliban [...] also needed their own win for their press releases, just like those in Whitehall. Same shit, different country.