ou, noun

/əʊ/
Forms:
Formerly also o, and with initial capital.
Plurals:
ous, ouens/ˈəʊəns//ˈəʊənz/.
Origin:
Afrikaans, DutchShow more Afrikaans, (plural ouens) probably from Dutch ouwe an elderly man.
slang
1.
a. ‘Chap’, ‘guy’, ‘fellow’, a general term of address or reference; oke sense 1. See also okie.
Note:
Also common in township English.
Note:
Its (rare) application to a woman (see Drum quotation 1972) perhaps implies that she is ‘one of the boys’.
1949 B.A. Tindall in F.G. Butler When Boys Were Men (1969) 270He was a strict disciplinarian, but always just, and..we all loved the ‘Ou’.
1960 J. Taylor ‘Ballad of the Southern Suburbs’. (lyrics)Ag, Pleeze, Deddy, won’t you take us to the wrestling, We wanna see an ou called Sky-High Lee.
1962 J. Taylor ‘Jeremy Taylor.’. (record)I was on the radio the other day, being interviewed, and this announcer ou, he said to me, he said, ‘Mr Taylor’, he said, ‘do you really speak like this? I mean — hell!’
1970 Forum Vol.6 No.2, 28‘Have any of you ous got a radio?’ he demanded.
1972 Cape Times 1 Aug. (editorial)To rank as a lekker ou at Bishops, Michaelhouse or St. Andrews is surely not to have lived in vain.
1972 Drum 22 Nov. 24The gang was taken over by a woman. She is big and fat, and a blerry clever ou.
[1972 R. Malan Ah Big Yaws 37Oh, Nothing to do with the English exclamation..but a general word for ‘another man’, ‘a person’, ‘the other fellow’...Variants exist, such as Oke, Okie,..with pride of place going to the famous plural Use-ose.]
1975 ‘Blossom’ in Darling 9 Oct. 95Hang, if there’s one thing turns me off a ou it’s greasy hair.
1976 E. Prov. Herald 28 Sept. 5 (advt)If there’s one thing this ‘O’ can’t stand it’s seeing good petrol go to waste.
1987 L. Beake Strollers 16I remembered once when she got in a fight with the police. Three of them laid out, big heavy ous too.
1989 Frontline Apr. 26White survival has got nothing to do with stopping a black ou from resting on the grass.
1992 C. Du Plessis in Style 95Ironically, the Market Theatre has turned down his work, one in which ‘the black ou is the villain’.
b. With qualifying word designating a particular sort of ‘chap’ or ‘fellow’: see lekker ou (lekker adjective sense 1 c), main ou.
2.
a. In the plural : Collectively, people of a particular type or origin; cf. oke sense 2.
1961 Personality 16 May 27It’s a lekker language, and those overseas ous often sound pretty snaaks themselves.
1984 Frontline Feb. 25The mountain and the sea and all that goed..is actually quite lekker and gives these ous a bit of an edge over us ous who have to go shlepping to hellangorn off to the Magaliesberg for a bit of natural-type recreation...You get these ouens from Joeys who make a big deal of taking holidays in Venice and Paris and such places.
1984 Frontline May 38Who else has ever come up with a TV station which only ouens of one race are meant to see?
1986 ‘Knockespotch’ in Frontline June 34Opposition ous can’t tell their arses from sedition.
1990 D. Beckett in Frontline Mar.–Apr. 10‘Jeez,’ says the garage man, ‘don’t these railways ous know about computers?’
b. With distinguishing epithet: see quotation. See also char ou, roti ou (see roti sense 2), wit ou.
1978 L. Barnes in The 1820 Vol.51 No.12, 19The Afrikaans word ou seems to have caught on in Natal just as much as in other parts of the country. There are chaar ous (Indians); roti ous (Hindi speakers)..; wit ous..; bruin ous (Coloureds) and pekkie ous (Blacks).
3. With the indefinite article: ‘one’.
1963 A. Fugard Blood Knot (1968) 15What sort of a thing was that to do to a ou’s own flesh and blood brother?
1963 A. Fugard Blood Knot (1968) 94Friday nights it was, when a ou’s got pay in his pocket and there’s no work tomorrow.
1969 A. Fugard People Are Living There 73Susy:..Do something! Shorty: But what? What must a ou do?
1970 Forum Vol.6 No.2, 28The fat one’s got a bust hey? God man, an ou could sit down on it for a rest!
1990 S. Cilliers in Frontline Jan. 9I felt terrible. I didn’t want to go to the bar...But an ou gets stubborn. I wanted to be allowed to go to the bar.
4. In urban (especially township) English: a. A friend. b. main man.
1972 Evening Post 30 Sept. 4Most..said they carried weapons because they were afraid of the ‘skollies, or ouens’ in their neighbourhood.
1980 Voice 20 Aug. 14Township slang prefers the flashy, modern, up-to-date and hip. However..it also has a tradition, conservatism, and certain basic terms and styles that never seem to go out of use. These are: ausi, bra, cherrie, dovola,..ou, [etc.].
1981 Pace Sept. 174The next thing, imagine, you see him dishing out for ‘die ouens’ at Number Four Fort Prison.
[1986 T. Thoka in Eng. Usage in Sn Afr. Vol.17 No.2, 19Tsotsie-taal has..certain basic terms..that never seem to go out of use. For example, the following words: ausie (sister), bra (brother), cherry (girl), ou (friend).]
‘Chap’, ‘guy’, ‘fellow’, a general term of address or reference; oke sense 1.
In the plural :Collectively, people of a particular type or origin;
see quotation.
With the indefinite article: ‘one’.
A friend.
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