skef fest
Look at this - worktime blogging!
Prompted by a discussion with Akira, prompted by some funny sounding nonwords that I made up for an experiment, prompted by a moment of conscientiousness, I have been thinking about some insults that were popular at school. The range of them is quite impressive. Not only do they all seem to refer to the same kind of thing (a person who's a bit shit and rough), but there are regional varieties-a-plenty.
The main one from the Shire, that I can recall, is skef. Everyone at some point was skeffy at my school. It wasn't a great school in fairness (and it's worsened - it's very "below average" in its achievements, these days. Although you can easily and cheaply get hold of a vast array of drugs) but that's not the point. This word's popularity should have easily earned it a place in the Oxford English.
Similar kinds of people were also skanky, crusty, and smeggy (I wonder if that was because they smelled of eggs? I doubt it; these words likely weren't so carefully constructed). Munter and minger came a little later; by 6th form I guess. However things happened earlier in the South. You guys all had mobile phones at least a couple of years before us. And that's not an exaggeration. So you may well have had munters before we did.
I warmly invite you to share your regional insults. A friend of mine was very amused at how the Spastic Society changed its name to SCOPE, not least in an attempt to wipe out "spakka" from playground insult popularity. So what happened? Scopee became quickly became a favourite. So, I only want PC ones in my skeffy database!
Moon. xxx
Prompted by a discussion with Akira, prompted by some funny sounding nonwords that I made up for an experiment, prompted by a moment of conscientiousness, I have been thinking about some insults that were popular at school. The range of them is quite impressive. Not only do they all seem to refer to the same kind of thing (a person who's a bit shit and rough), but there are regional varieties-a-plenty.
The main one from the Shire, that I can recall, is skef. Everyone at some point was skeffy at my school. It wasn't a great school in fairness (and it's worsened - it's very "below average" in its achievements, these days. Although you can easily and cheaply get hold of a vast array of drugs) but that's not the point. This word's popularity should have easily earned it a place in the Oxford English.
Similar kinds of people were also skanky, crusty, and smeggy (I wonder if that was because they smelled of eggs? I doubt it; these words likely weren't so carefully constructed). Munter and minger came a little later; by 6th form I guess. However things happened earlier in the South. You guys all had mobile phones at least a couple of years before us. And that's not an exaggeration. So you may well have had munters before we did.
I warmly invite you to share your regional insults. A friend of mine was very amused at how the Spastic Society changed its name to SCOPE, not least in an attempt to wipe out "spakka" from playground insult popularity. So what happened? Scopee became quickly became a favourite. So, I only want PC ones in my skeffy database!
Moon. xxx
posted by Moon @ 9:59 am
7 Comments:
At 10:38 am,
Tombola said…
Ooh....good work Moon! Smeggy may have come from Red Dwarf perhaps? Smeg of course being the cheese-like substance that Gaz has around his bellend.
As for playground vocab examples from the means streets of Stalybridge, how about these off the top of my head:
- Prannock
- Spakaheeshunfleeshun
- Kellysmellytropicalalpen (that one was only directed at Kelly Halpin, who smelled)
- Rooner
- Ronnermaronner
- Ronnerdonnerdo (only about 2 people said this last 3 but they got my school bus so I knew them too)
- Gimmer
- Flid
- Joey (as in Deacon)
At 11:10 am,
Moon said…
Wasn't a flid a scopee?! A fine list, Prof. Wonder if Kelly still smells.
At 1:18 pm,
Moon said…
My friend Alyrene has reminded me of scutters. Go to a bus stop, you'll find yourself shouting, "bus scutters".
At 3:15 pm,
Tombola said…
Yeah, flid and Joey and Scoper are all much the same.
At 3:59 pm,
Moon said…
I have been trying to think of this all day. And then, without thinking, when Akira was annoying me, out it came: "you greb". Variations of course include: grebo, greebster.
At 11:52 am,
frankien said…
Yeah, I think your grebo and crustie insults refer to musical tastes really. I should also point out that I think a flid referred to thalidomide. lovely. We had stumpy if you were clumsy. and then I remembered another: Mr Spoon. Was this related at all to button moon? I'm not sure. But it was a radio one thing and it had a song about being on the bus with a vacant stare, tap him on the forehead theres nothing there...mr spoon!! Hence ever after the insult 'spoon'.
At 9:21 pm,
Moon said…
Yeah I've heard the spoon insult used. It's a good word. The simpler, the better. What kind of music was grebo? I never found "crusty" insulting, but then I do still listen to the Levellers...
Heather Grebby was in my tutor group. She changed her name.
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