This evocative term is derived from the Yiddish expression gelt afn tish, meaning cash money on the table, ooftish was common slang for money or cash in late-19th to mid-20th century English, with oofless in turn meaning skint, poor or bankrupt. The Yiddish comes from the German Geld auf dem Tisch.
It’s a word mentioned in W. Somerset Maugham's first novel Liza of Lambeth (1897). “I ain't got—I ain't got the ooftish.”
In another cultural context, Ooftish is also a 1938 poem by Samuel Beckett thought to be inspired by his recollection of sermon on the problem of pain in which the priest declared: “The crucifixion was only the beginning. You must contribute to the kitty.” This is in reference to the church plate collection and perhaps written in the preacher’s voice:
Ooftish
offer it up plank it down
Golgotha was only the potegg
cancer angina it is all one to us
cough up your T.B. don’t be stingy
no trifle is too trifling not even a thrombus
anything venereal is especially welcome
that old toga in the mothballs
don’t be sentimental you won’t be wanting it again
send it along we’ll put it in the pot with the rest
with your love requited and unrequited
the things taken too late the things taken too soon
the spirit aching bullock’s scrotum
you won’t cure it you – you won’t endure it
it is you it equals you any fool has to pity you
so parcel up the whole issue and send it along
the whole misery diagnosed undiagnosed misdiagnosed
get your friends to do the same we’ll make use of it
we’ll make sense of it we’ll put it in the pot with the rest
it all boils down to the blood of the lamb
A shortened version of this word is also oof. To add to this adventure in obscurity, then is a jazz number with that title by Kahil El'Zabar's Ritual Trio featuring Billy Bang:
Feel free to share anything more in relation to oof, ooftish or oofless, whether in music or wider culture, such as from film, art, or other contexts, in comments below.
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