Talk:No-Mates

Tea room discussion

Note: the below discussion was moved from the Wiktionary:Tea room.

A request for Brits: Why are people with no mates called Billy? Maybe we should have a page Billy No-Mates too. --Jackofclubs 09:54, 11 October 2008 (UTC)

I've waited a while to see if anyone responded. Basically because I have never come across this before, and I've lived in all 4 corners of UK. -- ALGRIF talk 08:56, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

• OK, I will respond then! Yes, this is pretty common. I have heard it lots--I used to think it was a kind of playground slang, rbut recently I've heard from people of all ages. I don't know why it's Billy no-mates rather than any other name, but there you go. It does have a certain ring to it. Also, see here for a not-very-convincing trace of the word to 1996. Ƿidsiþ 09:52, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

• I'm sure I heard this long before 1996, as I think I remember it from primary school in the mid-late 1980s. Thryduulf 15:05, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

  Indeed, a quick google has found it in a usenet post from December 1994 [1]. And a books hit [2] implies that it was used in the 1990 book "The psychology of consumer behavior" [3], but this doesn't seem to be indexed online anywhere. The hits do seem to confirm though that it is typically a children's phrase. Thryduulf 15:20, 15 October 2008 (UTC)