Off pat & Off your own bat

Posted by R. Berg on June 06, 2001

In Reply to: Off pat & Off your own bat posted by Ed Addis on June 06, 2001

: Any ideas as to the origins of these?

The alphabetical meanings-and-origins list on this website explains "on your Pat" as "on your own" (Cockney or Irish rhyming slang: "on your Pat Malone"). Maybe our British friends can tell us whether "off pat" is related. The Oxford Engl. Dict. traces "off his own bat" to cricket: "in reference to the score made by a player's own hits" and, figuratively, "solely by his own exertions, by himself."

• Off pat & Off your own bat anna 07/24/01
• Off pat & Off your own bat James Briggs 06/06/01
  • Off pat, down pat R. Berg 06/06/01