Ditch

March 28th, 2011 by admin

It has also been suggested that this “ditch” actually has no connection to the “trench” sort of ditch but is actually a modified form of the 18th century English slang term “to dish,” meaning “to ruin, defeat, circumvent” (from the sense of food being done and “dished,” i.e., put on plates). The same “dish” is found in the slang phrase “dish it out” and its modern relative, “dish the dirt” meaning “tell gossip.” Interestingly, and perhaps significantly, Steven Keiser at OSU spent some time asking people in and around Columbus about “ditch,” and discovered that people over the age of 40 (in 2001) tended to remember using the term “dish” to mean “cut in line,” while young children used, as you note, simply “D.” While not conclusive, the use of “dish” in this sense by the older generation may well indicate that “dish” is indeed the source of this sense of “ditch.”

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Posted in columns, March 2011 | 8 comments

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  1. Sam Edwards:

    May 30th, 2015 at 4:25 pm

    My dad is in his late 60s, and he contends that the term was “dishing”, and the word was used by analogy with moving dishes on a drying rack by hand, to rearrange them. He’s lived in Central Ohio his whole life.

  2. David Clark:

    January 21st, 2016 at 11:06 am

    I grew up in Columbus and one of its suburbs. I heard both “ditch” and “dish” and they seemed to be used interchangeably, but I heard “dish” more. It was used as a description of cutting into a line of people, or a queue, as in “no dishing.”

    I’m now 67 and live in Chicago. I use it to this day, but outside of Franklin County, no one knows what you’re talking about.

  3. Michele Adams:

    August 27th, 2016 at 6:59 pm

    I just got into an argument with my teenage children after telling them about an incident where someone was ditching in line. They told me that “ditching in line” was incorrect grammar. To prove them wrong I Googled it and to my surprise found they were right. In my defense I am over 40 and from Columbus Ohio. I guess that makes me correct in my argument against them. I haven’t lived in Columbus since I was 20, but I will continue to use the terminology. I’d say that OSU researcher was right on the money. Thanks for the info!

  4. R. Denise Freshly:

    June 20th, 2017 at 4:16 pm

    I am 66 years old and from north central Ohio but I have lived in Columbus, Ohio most of my adult life. I read quite a lot and became interested in which phrase was correct “dish in line” or “ditch in line.” I have heard both used over the years and also found the phrases in my pleasure reading. I was delighted to read this column and discover how these phrases are connected exclusively to central Ohio. Thanks for the information!

  5. Andrew Raymond:

    August 5th, 2020 at 9:23 pm

    Born in ’77, lived my whole life in Columbus. It was definitely “ditch” when I was growing up. My Dad was from Springfield and mother from Cleveland, but I don’t recall them using or trying to correct me in my usage.

  6. Chris Karen:

    February 16th, 2021 at 8:56 am

    Born close to Columbus, Ohio , but I have a dif reason why ditch is used for cutting in line , and it also explains why we use the ditch when we get rid of a person quickly and discretely that we do not like or want to associate with.
    It most likely comes from calling the separation or the splitting up or defining the lines of land a ditch.
    In the line reference the people/line is being separated.
    In the reference of ditching or getting rid of someone, we are separating ourselves from that person.OH and as an afterthought it also works for the airmen when landing in water; they are splitting the water, or making a ditch in the water. I could be wrong, but it makes sense to me. My guess as to exclusive use of the word as to cutting in line, instead of saying taking cuts is some family moved into the area from England and was popular, so kids copied him/her/them. Or some popular kid brought it back from a vacation and was using it. It can be traced by going through archives of the local newspapers. We are talking over fifty years ago, when places like Columbus and surrounding cities held things like getting new neighbors from abroad or going abroad for vacation was quite newsworthy.

  7. Gerrade Hazelwood:

    April 1st, 2021 at 5:23 pm

    I was just curious about the word “ditch” in general. Reading this it came to me that “ditching” or disregarding the social norms of queing could also be some connection to phrase.
    Thank you for the great post.

  8. Donald MacLeod:

    April 9th, 2021 at 9:18 am

    I’m pushing 60 but well remember getting “dished” in line. Still not happy about it. Lol