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"Without any real warning, he would offer you outside over who ate the last bit of pork we'd all had a whip for, or if he thought you were laughing at him not with him, the fallout out could be downright dangerous"

Colin Swan "True story of the Exits"

I don't understand the bolded part. Why does it talk about the last bit of pork? Does it mean the man wanted to go outside (he was in a pub) to fight because he did not have the last bit of pork.

The author gives this example to show that he was really dangerous and that he fought for less than nothing . A bit of pork for the author is not a reason to start a fight

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  • It means pretty much what you suggest it does. What you seem to be querying is the motivations of the author, and I don't think we can answer that here. But if the book is written in the first person then it isn't the author who asks to fight over things - it is whoever 'he' is.
    – Astralbee
    Commented Nov 2, 2022 at 17:09
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    "offer you outside" is quite odd. There is something wrong. bit of pork is just piece of pork.
    – Lambie
    Commented Nov 2, 2022 at 17:24
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    We'd all had a whip presumably refers to what is normally called a whip-round - when a group of people contribute money, usually to buy someone a present, but maybe here they had bought a joint of pork to share?
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Nov 2, 2022 at 17:30
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    @gotube Aww pleasure, sorry for the earlier snarkiness, must have left my politeness on the bus!
    – Au101
    Commented Nov 3, 2022 at 2:17
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    @Au101 All good! You've earned yourself a mention in my answer :)
    – gotube ♦
    Commented Nov 3, 2022 at 3:43

1 Answer 1

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To "offer someone outside" means to challenge someone to a fight. This is British slang that sheltered Ontarians like myself have never heard.

"Over" is a preposition commonly used to indicate the issue that caused people to want to fight.

"to have a whip(-round) for something" means to get everyone in a group to chip some money in to buy something collectively. This is also British slang that ign'ant Ontarians like myself have never heard.

And "a bit of pork" is "some pork".

So the overall gist of this sentence is that this guy would pick fights with someone for finishing off some meat they'd all purchased together.

I pulled this answer together from the comments, so credit to Au101 and Kate Bunting.

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