G'day McGrath and Uncle DaveO,

Interestingly, the Romans used either hoc on its own or hoc ille for "yes" ... and it is the various French descendants of this form that distinguished 'langue d'oc' and 'langue d'oil' (the 'oil' becomes 'oui' in modern, academic, French). It's worth musing that a French-speaker in the border areas of the two language forms would probably use the 'full' phrase - as 'oc oil' (something like 'ock ee' to our ears).

How does this match up with the Scots 'och aye' ... and, of course, the US 'OK' (disregarding the tediously invented "official" lie about its Civil War origins) ...?

Regards,

Bob Bolton