Street
ova by
What does ova by mean?
Pure Yat. In New Orleans you don't go 'to' your mamma's, you go 'ova by' her house. It collapses 'over by' into one word and stands in for 'at' or 'to' depending on the sentence. A dead giveaway you grew up below I-10.
"I'm gonna be ova by my cousin's for the second line."
Origin
Yat dialect of New Orleans, heavily shaped by 19th-century Irish, German and Italian immigrant speech patterns in the Ninth Ward and Irish Channel.
Frequently asked questions
What does "ova by" mean?
It's New Orleans slang for "at" or "to" a place, usually someone's house.
How do you use "ova by" in a sentence?
"We're headed ova by my momma's for dinner."
Where does "ova by" come from?
It's part of New Orleans dialect, where "by" stands in for "at" or "to" a location.
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