fresh off the boat

fresh off the boat

Newly immigrated, especially without having yet assimilated the host country's language, culture, and/or behavior. My grandfather was still fresh off the boat when he opened up his business here in 1820, and he didn't speak a lick of English.
See also: boat, fresh, off
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

off the boat

recently arrived from a foreign country, and by implication naive or an outsider. informal, often offensive
See also: boat, off
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

FOB

mod. fresh off the boat; as gullible and trusting as a new immigrant. (Initialism. A play on the initials of Free on Board.) Where did you get those FOB shoes? Blue suede is back?
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • off the boat
  • just off the boat
  • hold the reins
  • fit in
  • fit in(to)
  • (there's) no fool like an old fool
  • assimilate
  • assimilate (oneself/someone/something) into
  • assimilate into
  • horse opera
References in periodicals archive
Fresh Off The Boat is first sitcom featuring Asian Americans in over 20 years
Constance Wu 'so upset' that sitcom Fresh Off The Boat is being renewed; Actress Contsance Wu has reacted angrily at the news that a sitcom she stars in will be coming back for another series
New episodes of "Fresh Off the Boat" and "Speechless" start up again on ABC on Nov.
Are 'Fresh Off The Boat,' 'Speechless' On TV Tonight?
In addition to continuing on Fresh Off the Boat, Wu will at some point film the Crazy Rich Asians sequel.
CONSTANCE WU: With a hit movie TV show, the Crazy Rich Asians star has been thrust into the spotlight. And she knows just what to do with it
Even the title is meant to provoke: a reappropriation of the derogatory term describing new immigrants: "fresh off the boat" or FOB.
Using Personal Narratives to Reposition and Reimagine "the Chinese American Experience" in American History and Culture
What he has noticed is a growing tendency among cultural commentators to pit The Family Law against Fresh off the Boat (as two Asian family comedies), or even against Here Come the Habibs.
Comedy is Kin: the Family Law and diverse television
Like Fresh Off the Boat, based on the autobiography of chef Eddie Huang, who moved from Washington, D.C.
'Fresh Off the Boat' Episode About Jews and Asians Plays to Stereotypes
Thanks to the popularity of this year's new shows, including Empire, Blackish and Fresh Off the Boat, which feature minority talents in the lead roles--and maybe a desire to accurately portray the American population-- the networks have cast many of the new series with diverse actors.
New U.S. pilots shaped by films, comic bios, MDs, JDs
There was a time when a well-heeled chap fresh off the boat could turn up to a mixer at a good country club and emerge a few hours later slightly dazed and running a not inconsiderable division of a retail bank.
How to get a job in Dubai
* In 1917, Samuel Rosen arrived at Ellis Island, fresh off the boat from Eastern Europe.
Worst case? Cursed waste! A passel of new spoonerisms
"While it may not compare to some of the V8 behemoths you see around, to someone fresh off the boat from a land where a two-litre is seen as a larger engine, a 3.8l V6 was something unheard of."
Off-road icon turns 30
At least for the first time ever, I would not have to hear sarcastic comments from a Westerner fresh off the boat regarding the whole moon calculation thing."
Have a Merry Ramadan: Day 2 - Smile!
From callow immigrant fresh off the boat at Ellis Island to obsessed woman on a major mission, soprano Frederique Vezina was thoroughly prepossessing in the title role.
Vancouver Opera
Getting called a FOB ("fresh off the boat") used to be the ultimate put-down for Asian Americans.
From FOB to Fobulous
He's proposed that some of the 11,277 apartments in Stuyvesant Town, one of Manhattan's nicer areas, should be given to Irish immigrants fresh off the boat.
MANHATTAN'S CENTRAL PERK
I'd just come fresh off the boat - I didn't know what to do.
Sophie Monk on life in LA