War changes dictionaries as well as maps, and the present conflict has already brought forth one expression that seems likely to establish itself as firmly as did "blighty" a quarter of a century ago.
I notice nowadays that none of the younger people in the North are "fed up"; for, though the same feeling of discontent may beset them, they no longer think in terms of appetite, but in terms of colour, and now they confess to being "browned off."
I know nothing of the derivation of this latest and anything but elegant term, except that it is in general use in the British Army. It is an elastic expression.
One cannot only be "browned off" in a general sense, but in a particular direction. Belfast shop-girls who have had a tiff with the floor-walker no longer "fall out" with this functionary, but become "browned off" at, with or towards him. I confess I do not know which is the correct term.
The Irish Times, April 5th, 1941.