[6] A study of the Cockney dialect in the 1950s found that whether it was being used to call attention or as a challenge depended on its tone and abruptness.
[7] A poll of non-English speakers by the British Council in 2004 found that "oi" was considered the 61st most beautiful word in the English language.
[11] Coincidentally, the term oi (おい) in informal Japanese is used in the same way as British English, typically by older men to subordinates;[12] an elongated ōi is used when someone is at a distance.
[oj] means "hi" – mostly in Brazil, as people in Portugal use olá instead; still, under the exclusively Brazilian usage, the interrogative oi?
This is commonly used throughout the Philippines with friends and family as an attention-grabbing interjection, but is rarely used with strangers per social customs.
", expressing defiance and transgression of the working-class characters;[16] it was newsworthy when King George VI of the United Kingdom and Queen Elizabeth were at one performance and "with the rest of the audience, cocked their thumbs and shouted Oi!
"[17] The phrase gained a certain notoriety due to a British working-class punk rock subgenre being named Oi!.
[18][19] Originating in the late 1970s, the genre and its associated subculture had the goal of bringing together punks, skinheads and other working-class youths.
The term also evolved to be used in Multicultural London English; a 2002 UK Top 10 hit by the grime music group More Fire Crew was titled "Oi!