my oath! excl.
(Aus./N.Z.) a mild excl.; often as an affirmation; often intensified with an adj.
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Bell’s Life in Sydney 13 Feb. 2/3: ‘My oath,’ as a snug turfite is apt to repeat, ‘he was all there’. | |
| [ | ![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Recollections of Geoffrey Hamlyn cap. xxiii: ‘Oh my—(colonial oath!)’ said the other; ‘oh my----'cabbage tree!’]. |
| Golden Age (Queanbeyan, NSW) 4 Sept. 3/2: Does a man ask Tom if he ever heard of the Hithard Slasher? ‘Heard of him? my oath! Yes, sir’. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 28 Feb. 13/3: His ol’ dad’ll miss him, but, my oath, if them there Arabs thinks they’ve got a ‘slouch’ in Bill, they’ll be sucked in, you see. | |
| Out Back 117: ‘My oath!’ ejaculated that worthy. | |
| ‘His Colonial Oath’ in Roderick (1972) 78: Then he added, ‘My blooming oath!’. | |
| Notts. Guardian 3 June 8/7: I’ll take my colonial oath [...] that hit of midwinter’s [...] knocks spots off Bonnor’s record at Lords. | |
| W. Aus. Sun. Times 24 Sept. 7/2: [title] Bill Bludger — My Oath! | |
| ‘Send Round the Hat’ in Roderick (1972) 479: My oath! I’d take the train to-morrer only I ain’t got the stuff. | |
| Bush Honeymoon 148: ‘My jolly oath, I will!’ says Yellow Billy fervently . | |
| Roaring Fifties cap. vii: ‘My colonial, you sprint like an emu!’ gasped the latter [Ibid.] cap. xiii: Con uttered a corroborative ‘My colonial oath!’ that was eloquent of a grateful heart. | |
| ‘A Digger’s Tale’ in Chisholm (1951) 100: ‘My oath!’ the Duchess sez. You’d not ixpect / Sich things as that. | |
| Working Bullocks 113: ‘My oath,’ Red agreed. | |
| Mirror (Perth) 29 Jan. 11/3: They are the men who [...] will sail to Pommieland to keep the kangarooster’s tail up [...] my blooming oath they will! | |
| Aus. Vulgarisms [t/s] 11: my’king oath!: Euphemism for a more forceful expression. | |
| We Were the Rats 259: ‘My oath. We’ll give ’em Singapore.’ ‘With knobs on.’. | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Gun in My Hand 178: But she was worth it. My oath. | |
| Compleat Migrant 16: ‘My flamin’ oath!’ says the native’s friend. | |
| Dinkum Aussie Dict. 36: My oath: A reply to almost anything as in: ‘It’s a hot day.’ ‘My oath.’ ‘It’s a cold day.’ ‘My oath.’ ‘Would you like a drink?’ ‘My oath.’ ‘How’s about going up the Cross and getting on the piss and picking up a coupla sheilas?’ ‘My bloody oath.’. | |
| Black Tide (2012) [ebook] Looker she was. My oath. | |
| Wind & Monkey (2013) [ebook] ‘Fuckin oath. She’s an old wobbegong’. | |
| Black Tide (2012) [ebook] ‘I take it Gary wouldn’t be the choice.’ ‘Bloody oath’. | |
| (ref. to 1950s) Eight Bells & Top Masts 139: These were the 1950s. [...] [Australians] said things like ‘Strewth’ and ‘My flamin’ oath’ and called each other Mate. | |
| Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 139: my oath! Exclamations of affirmation. ANZ. | |
| Rosa Marie’s Baby (2013) [ebook] ‘Fuckin oath’. | |
| Scrublands [ebook] ‘Fucken oath, Martin, you got that right’. | |
| I Am Already Dead 214: ‘Was the photo there?’ ‘My oath it was’. |
In exclamations
(Aus.) a mild excl.
 | Seven Years of my Life 70: Come along you bloody crawlers, you’ll have to walk faster than this tomorrow, with a cart load of stone — my bloody oath you will [AND]. | |
| Tramp and Other Stories 5: Can he fight? My bloody oath he can! | |
| (con. 1940s) Veterans 39: ‘You like music, boy?’ he asked ‘Bloody oath!’ ‘Guess that means yes,’ he smiled. | |
| Mirage (1958) 235: ‘We’ll all have things, Nona.’ ‘My bloody oath we will!’ George said. | |
| Cop This Lot 17: ‘Up ter the pub, eh?’ ‘Bloody oath,’ Dennis said. | |
| Yarns of Billy Borker 26: My bloody oath, I did. | |
| A Bottle of Sandwiches 10: Bloody oath. Three raw eggs for breakfast. | |
| It’s Your Shout, Mate! 33: Bloody oath. We grow the world’s best barley. | |
| Puberty Blues 20: ‘Comin’ down the paddock on Friday?’ [...] ‘Bloody oaf. Gunna meet Boardie, Debbie?’. | |
| Godson 245: ‘And that chap cut his leg quite badly?’ ‘Bloody oath [...] A good ten stitches, easy’. | |
| White Shoes 50: Bloody oath [...] I just hope you’ve got enough in the kitchen. | |
| Penguin Bk of All-New Aus. Jokes 175: ‘We saw some frogs [...] and then we put firecrackers up their arse.’ ‘Rectum, Tommy,’ Mum said reprovingly, ‘rectum!’ And Tommy said, ‘Blood oath we did!’. | |
| Leaving Bondi (2013) [ebook] ‘My bloody oath I have [got a gun]’, shouted Les. ‘Now piss off’. | |
| Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 25: bloody oath! Affirmative intensive. | |
| in Tasmanian Times 4 Feb. 🌐 Bloody oath, mate, this country needs a shakeup. | |
| Class Act [ebook] ‘Bloody oath it is!’. |
(Aus./N.Z.) a mild excl.
| Recollections of G. Hamlyn (1891) 196: ‘Oh my — (colonial oath!)’ said the other; ‘oh my — ‘cabbage tree!’. | |
| Glen Innes Examiner (NSW) 26 Oct. 6/1: ‘My Colonial ain’t Phil Beck a hout-and-houter? he is an’ ot ’un and no error’ . | |
| Robbery Under Arms (1922) 239: My colonial oath, Dick, you’re quite the gentleman. | |
| ‘Thin Lips and False Teeth’ in Roderick (1972) 243: He only remembered such remarks as ‘My oath’, ‘My colonial oath’, ‘My (adjective) oath’. | |
| Bulletin (Sydney) 13 Dec. 3/2: ‘Good dog, that. Can he work?’ ‘My colonial! Why, he kept the house goin’ for months.’. | |
| Ellesmere Guardian 27 May 4/3: ‘My Colonial,’ Oath of affirmation. | |
| A Bottle of Sandwiches 30: ‘My colonial,’ Doug said. | |
| Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 74/2: my colonial oath! a mild expletive used usually as reinforcement, with variations such as my oath!, my bloody oath!, my bloody colonial oath! | |
| Lingo 45: In ‘The Bastard [from the Bush]’, the Captain asks the stranger: ‘Would you stoush a blanky Chinky?’ And the stranger replies, ‘My colonial oath I would!’. | |
| Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988]. |
(Aus.) a mild excl; thus, as a comic name, Ken Oath.
| Bastard from the Bush in Moore (ed.) Censor’s Library (2012) [ebook] And would you have a moll to keep you and swear off work for good? / And the bastard from the bush replied, ‘My fucking oath I would!’. | |
| Sport (Adelaide) 7 Aug. 4/3: Did you enjoy yourself? Ken-oath? | |
| Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. 48: my ’king oath! A vulgar variant of ‘my oath!’. | |
| Aus. Lang (2nd edn) 204: [Exclamations] Agreement: blood oath! kern oath! myking oath! | |
| (con. 1940s) Andy 266: My fucken oath I would. | |
| Big Huey 110: ‘You want to carry on with it?’ he asked Mat. ‘Yeah, fucking oath I do!’ replied Mat. | |
| Victor Harbour Times (SA) 11 May 33/4: After the singles in the match between the Kangaroos and Ken Oath, the score was three all but the Kangaroo’s went on to win 7–4. | |
| DSUE (8th edn) 772/1: my king oath! Aus. var of my oath (Baker) since ca. 1910. Strictly king short for fucking but cf. also king-hit. | |
| [bk title] ‘Ken Oathe’ The Real Australian Bloke’s Guide To Survival . | |
| Shuriken 58: TINY: I’ll have to report this. JACKO: K’noath. We’ll both report it. | |
| Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 66/1: ’kin oath rude avowal; contraction of ‘fucking oath’. | |
| Dinkum Dict. 229/2: k’n-oath! euphemism for fucking oath! emphatically, yes! | |
| Tharunka (Sydney) 15 Sept. 42/3: ‘Why do you want to get involved with all the shit that goes on at the S.U.? You must be mad!’ ‘’ken oath I’m mad,’ I said. ‘I’m STEAMED!’. | |
| Almost Late Gordon Chater 128: [A]nd Barry had a ‘k’noath’ audibly removed in Melbourne. | |
| Weather Girl 24: ‘See the pythons on that crip kid. ‘Ken oath, he can press 100 kilos, no worries at all. It’s fucken unreal’. | |
| Macquarie Bk Sl. (2 edn) 135/2: ’kenoaf n. Jocular. (spoken with a strong Australian accent) a euphemistic variant of the exclamation fucking oath! Also, ’kenoath. | |
| Mungo 97: Would I like a knockdown? K’noath I would. | |
| Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988]. | |
| Sucked In 117: ‘’ken oath,’ I said. | |
| ‘Grassed’ in Crime Factory: Hard Labour [ebook] Fucken oath. You’ve got it sweet, haven’t you, champ? | |
| me-stepmums-too-fuckin-hot-mate at www.fakku.net 🌐 Fuck oath, park yer bones. | |
| Stoning 43: ‘[M]y bloody oath, he did’. |