Comments on: O or Oh?

By: Gareth Matthews

Gareth Matthews — Mon, 19 May 2008 14:07:11 +0000

Gill that was very useful - and as a learned reader of this site I hope that our grammer and punctuation doesn’t frustrate you too much…

By: Gill Martin

Gill Martin — Mon, 19 May 2008 10:26:51 +0000

Dear Gareth, I’m glad that this concerns you as it drives me nuts when the wrong use of O or Oh is in written works- especially hymns. Fortunately [or unfortunately!] I had a very detailed education in the Use of English and its reliance on laton forms as a base, which has stuck [ the latin disappeared rapidly as I cannot learn disembodied words - although I still decline various verbs with the best]. Anyway, O is for a form of address - if you are hailing/addressing someone or something. It should not be followed by a comma. Oh introduces exclamations or expresses a reflective pause or motion. It is often followed by a comma e.g. ‘Oh, by the way …’ But the comma can be dispensed with as in ‘Oh dear, what can the matter be …’
Hope this helps
Gill

By: Gareth Matthews

Gareth Matthews — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 12:48:25 +0000

Larry, you are good man - thanks for looking a bit deeper into this for me! I think I am reassured to find that there is a rule / method to follow, I love that kind of thing!

One thing that did strike me is that I’ve actually never written a song that contained an ‘O’ or even an ‘Oh’ - so perhaps the ignoring them altogether is a viable option!

It is always good to think about stuff like this though - I am passionate about people understanding what they are singing rather than just going through the motions so thanks for looking into this.

By: Larry

Larry — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 13:19:58 +0000

Gareth, you always were one for getting the fine detail right! And I’m sure that this issue will severely hamper any further song-writing until you get it settled in your mind. Sadly, I’m not an expert of the English language (nor anything else come to that) but I felt compelled to do a little bit of research on your behalf in order to put you out of your current turmoil.

It would appear that the use of ‘O’ or ‘Oh’ is quite interchangeable and the difference is fairly subtle. The Oxford Dictionary actually says that ‘O’ is a variance of ‘Oh’ and is a Middle English (a form of the English language spoken between 1066 and the mid-to-late 15th century) phrase that it is prefixed to a name in the vocative – in other words a respectful way of addressing someone like God or a king. About ‘Oh’ it says that it’s used to express surprise (eg ‘oh boy!’), pain (eg ‘oh no!’), excitement (eg ‘oh yes!’) or resignation (eg ‘oh well!’). However, it also suggests that ‘O’ could be used instead so there doesn’t appear to be a clearly defined rule.

Looking at the use of these words in the Bible is quite interesting. There’s plenty of examples of ‘O’ used immediately before the word ‘God’ or ‘Lord’ (see for example Psalms 69 to 71) whereas I can’t find any examples of the word ‘Oh’ being used in the same way. But then ‘O’ is also used in other contexts too: ‘O faithless and perverse generation’ (Mat 17:17) or ‘O foolish Galatians!..’ (Gal 3:1).

‘Oh’ is used in a wide variety of passages: ‘Oh, these people have committed a great sin…’ (Gen 32:32), ‘Oh that they were wise…’ (Deut 32:29), ‘Oh that my grief…’ (Job 6:2) or ‘Oh the depth of the riches…’ (Rom 11:33). Generally it appears to be used a lot in the context of giving emphasis to something, voicing a sense of disappointment that things aren’t different or expressing despair about a situation.

I think my suggestion would be that if that you’re going to use these words in a song, then follow the Biblical pattern – i.e. to use ‘O’ when it comes before the name of God and use ‘Oh’ for any other phrase if it’s appropriate. Or just ignore them altogether! Happy song-writing Gareth…