English slang expression that sounds like "CASE OH"?

October 28, 2006 4:01 PM

English slang expression that sounds like "CASE OH"?

I was watching an English TV show on DVD and one of the characters used an expression that sounded like "going case oh".

From the context it meant something like "in secret", "on the down-low" or "behind someone's back". The subtitles say "case-o".

The reason it's weirding me out is I'm English myself, have always been interested in the language and its variations, and I'm no spring chicken, but I have never heard this expression before.

Googling gets me lots of false positives for phrases like "upper case O" and "case o'beer".

posted by AmbroseChapel to writing & language (33 comments total)

It sounds like Case 0, or case zero, which I imagine is an allusion...
posted by Phire at 4:04 PM on October 28, 2006

do you Queso, as in cheese in espanol?
posted by Meemer at 4:05 PM on October 28, 2006

I did consider "queso", but a) it doesn't make any sense and b) nothing shows up for "going queso".

Phire -- allusion to what?
posted by AmbroseChapel at 4:18 PM on October 28, 2006

I've been trying to find it on Google. What show were you watching and which episode? Having a transcript of it might help.
posted by Phire at 4:21 PM on October 28, 2006

what about "Going, kay? So..."
posted by splatta at 4:23 PM on October 28, 2006

>What show were you watching and which episode?

It was an episode of "Only Fools and Horses", Season 2, Episode 4, "No Greater Love".

>Having a transcript of it might help.

Well I did mention the subtitles already.

And yes, it's a daggy show, and yes, the character is known for his mangling and misuse of foreign words and phrases, but this is not one of those times, I'm sure.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 4:32 PM on October 28, 2006

>what about "Going, kay? So..."

Logical, but from context, definitely not.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 4:33 PM on October 28, 2006

No way it could be AWOL? Could we have a bit of the surrounding text?
posted by Leon at 4:58 PM on October 28, 2006

In the UK, there's a horse competition known as KESOE.
posted by Smart Dalek at 5:05 PM on October 28, 2006

It could be Cockney Rhyming Slang, but every online dictionary I've looked in has offered nothing (checked under c, k, and q).

Another thought I had was that it's short for "in case of."
posted by veronica sawyer at 5:05 PM on October 28, 2006

>No way it could be AWOL?

Definitely not. I'm not that hard of hearing!

>Could we have a bit of the surrounding text?

The situation is, his brother has been having an affair with the wife of a man in prison for attempted murder and other violent crimes. He says "you're going case-o with the wife of a convict?".
posted by AmbroseChapel at 5:15 PM on October 28, 2006

Oh, for a clip. This'd take about 3 seconds.
posted by genghis at 5:19 PM on October 28, 2006

Did he make a hand motion at the same time? Thumb and forefinger together?
posted by b33j at 5:26 PM on October 28, 2006

>Oh, for a clip. This'd take about 3 seconds.

I don't get what you mean. He says "case" as in suitcase, "o" as in the letter. How would a clip help?
posted by AmbroseChapel at 5:26 PM on October 28, 2006

>Did he make a hand motion at the same time? Thumb and forefinger together?

No, sorry.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 5:27 PM on October 28, 2006

Thought perhaps I'd found something, but it was just someone quoting words from a script also, here (google cached, a UK msgboard post). Perhaps the poster knows?

Also, consider hunting up nearby slang such as Welsh or Scot, as I would imagine the English might use such remarks also.

I think Phire was just speculating that 'Case O' or 'Case 0' might refer to something common knowledge-y in the UK such as a famous court case known only as "case o" or some variation, similar to how a slow police chase might be referred in popular culture in the US as "pulling an OJ" without needing to explain what that meant.
posted by vanoakenfold at 5:39 PM on October 28, 2006

I found this for "go caso"... also here. No clues to the etymology though.
posted by creeky at 5:44 PM on October 28, 2006

I can see a few other possible meanings, from the context: it could mean "sleep with the wife of a man in prison" (more specific than just going behind someone's back), or "sleep with an older woman" (...going Mrs Robinson with...), or maybe just "behave like a lothario" (...going Casanova with...).

A real stretch, but could we be looking at a variation on "cuckold"?

I hope someone solves this one... it's going to bug me now.
posted by Leon at 6:33 PM on October 28, 2006

A bit of googling turns up this page:
Caso: Caso is British slang for mad, unpredictable

I have no idea what this "Encyclopedia" is or where they get their information. I've certainly never heard the term caso before.
posted by blue mustard at 7:00 PM on October 28, 2006

From Italian perhaps? I don't speak the language but phrases with "caso" appears to be related to randomness, which could be the source of the "mad, unpredictable" definition above. Any Italians here?
posted by blue mustard at 7:13 PM on October 28, 2006

I wonder if the script said 'going loco', the actor said 'going queso' by mistake, and when they played it back they said, 'It's all Spanish, isn't it? Who'll even notice?'
posted by beniamino at 7:52 PM on October 28, 2006

Thanks everyone for the research.

I'm thinking I was mistaken about the meaning -- the expression might well mean, as some of the links suggest, not "go behind the back of [the husband]" but "to go crazy over [the wife]", because the brother is infatuated at that point in the show.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 8:09 PM on October 28, 2006

I think Leon's suggestion is most plausible. "Going caso" makes a lot of sense as an abbreviation for "going Casanova."
posted by jayder at 9:01 PM on October 28, 2006

Eric Partridge, in his Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, has "caso" as 1) a prostitute that takes a man for the night; 2) a brothel, since ca. 1910... from case, casa (house) = brothel.

He also has "go caso" = "to take a room or a flat and become a genteel prostitute."
posted by words1 at 9:47 PM on October 28, 2006

Oh, thanks, words1. That suggests another possible meaning, something more like "shacking up with".

I'm thinking that it might be forces slang, originating with British servicemen interacting with prostitutes in Italy in WWII. "You go caso with me?" might have been the italian equivalent of "me love you long time".
posted by AmbroseChapel at 10:31 PM on October 28, 2006

The script for that episode suggests 'going case-o'
posted by highrise at 12:45 AM on October 29, 2006

I'd guess it's just something David Jason made up. I'm a) british and b) grew up fairly near to the fictional location of Mandela Towers, and I've never heard that phrase before.
posted by handee at 1:57 AM on October 29, 2006

I've just done a search of the OED online plus various reference books, using all the possible spellings. None of them come up with anything. It makes me wonder whether it might be a contraction of rhyming slang, perhaps - the longer phrase being "case of X", which rhymes with the real word, then contacted into "going case-o". But I think words1's explanation is the most plausible.
posted by greycap at 1:33 AM on October 29, 2006

This doesn't fit the context, but could it be
Okay, so......
posted by bluefin at 2:53 AM on October 29, 2006

Words1 quotes "Eric Partridge, in his Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English" which is a very highly rated book
posted by bluefin at 3:17 AM on October 29, 2006

Remember, this is a scripted bit of dialogue, not a conversation between real people. For all we know, the author made it up, or found it on some list of outdated slang and thought it sounded cool.
posted by nebulawindphone at 8:24 AM on October 29, 2006

>This doesn't fit the context, but could it be
Okay, so......

<bangs head on desk>

I think words1 gets "best answer" for having done the best research. But if anyone has any other dictionaries of slang or similar resources, please take a look in them.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 3:59 PM on October 29, 2006

I suggested a clip because context, usually, is all, and there are a couple of us native Lahndanas about.

However, if the script referenced above is right, then ignore it - it means nothing to anybody in London I can think of (I'm 34 and it's not something in my sixtysomething dad's extensive repertoire of idioms either), though the Italy/WW2 thing might wash in an incredibly-obscure way if it were Grandad speaking - which it's not.

Londoners are prone to getting riled by things like this - script writer from somewhere else makes something up, actor from nowhere close says it in character, people think it's for real. Half the UK thinks (erroneously) that there are more than about ten bits of cockney rhyming slang in use, and for the same reason.
posted by genghis at 10:09 PM on October 30, 2006