"scram" - was OT: Teatime
Jim Lawton
Referring to my " I spotted a bus-load of old codgers scramming high tea
in Grassington only last year."
Sage commented :-
--- I've heard -- and used -- scran with reference to food, especially
in the Royal Navy -- and hence "scranning" it down would be my usage
i.e. stuffing one's face. But "scramming" ... ? Aha: My COD Thumb Index
Edition says "scran n. sl. 1. food, eatables. 2. remains of food. bad
scran Ir. bad luck.[18th c.: orig.unkn.]". Just above, it says scramming
is to do with "go(ing) away". ---
"scram" in relation to food has been used by my family all my life -
"Scram your tea, and come on Jim" - "You scrammed that down - you must
have been hungry" - and we must have used it in front of others without
adverse comment.
My grandfather was in the Merchant Navy - I now wonder if in the far
distant past my mother misheard him say "scran" - certainly there's no
such usage for scram under Google.
Could be dialect though - I just feel it to be so commonplace - any
ideas?
--
Jim
a Yorkshire polymoth
Jim Lawton
<use...@jimlawton.TAKEOUTinfo> wrote:
>Scram food.
>
....
>
>Could be dialect though - I just feel it to be so commonplace - any
>ideas?
In addition, my partner says she has used "scram" for food since at
least the 1960s, and knew "scran" in Sage's usage as well. It's possible
that "scram" - "eat quickly" is a new dialect word by analogy with
"run away quickly". There used to be a mouse poison called "Scram", as
well.
Ross Howard
<use...@jimlawton.TAKEOUTinfo> wrought:
Scran is to scoff and wolf it as scram is to scarper and leg it.
--
Ross Howard
Mark Brader
> Scram food.
>
> Referring to my " I spotted a bus-load of old codgers scramming high tea
> in Grassington only last year."
Interesting, never heard that one before. To me "scram" has two
meanings, both for things that are done as quickly as possible,
nicely defined here: <http://www.plexoft.com/SBF/S02.html#Scram!>
--
Mark Brader "We can get ideas even from a clever man." ...
Toronto "Yes, I think you can. Even ideas you should
m...@vex.net have had yourselves." -- John Dickson Carr
Mike Lyle
> Jim Lawton writes:
>> Scram food.
>>
>> Referring to my " I spotted a bus-load of old codgers scramming high
>> tea in Grassington only last year."
>
> Interesting, never heard that one before. To me "scram" has two
> meanings, both for things that are done as quickly as possible,
> nicely defined here: <http://www.plexoft.com/SBF/S02.html#Scram!>
In Welsh English, "scram" means "scratch": I even saw it in a headline
in one of our papers. In a famous song, "...a'r cath wedi sgrammo Johnny
bach." Despite its appearance in _Sospan Fach_, it's not, AFAIK, a real
Welsh-language word, though perhaps it originated in Welsh English -- I
don't think it's in OED.
--
Mike.
mUs1Ka
I've only ever heard "sgrapo".
"A'r gath wedi sgrapo Jonni bach."
--
Ray.
UK.
Mike Lyle
> Mike Lyle wrote:
[...]
>> In Welsh English, "scram" means "scratch": I even saw it in a
>> headline in one of our papers. In a famous song, "...a'r cath wedi
>> sgrammo Johnny bach." Despite its appearance in _Sospan Fach_, it's
>> not, AFAIK, a real Welsh-language word, though perhaps it originated
>> in Welsh English -- I don't think it's in OED.
>
> I've only ever heard "sgrapo".
>
> "A'r gath wedi sgrapo Jonni bach."
Ah, I missed the mutation, as usual! I can find only one version with
"scramo" (my spelling was a mile off) on Ggl: perhaps it was just local
to our area.
--
Mike.