Word of the week

• Wifie n. a woman.
• SLAP n. a gap in a wall etc.
• HAP v. to cover, to wrap up.
• CREESH n., v. grease
• Kittle v. to tickle, to stimulate; adj. apt, problematic.
• Unco adjective, adverb, noun strange, unfamiliar; extremely; a marvel.
• JAW n. a wave, a rush of water; v. to pour
• Haiver, haver v. To talk fooolishly; n. nonsense, a person who talks nonsense.
• SKELP n to slap, spank; v to strike, spank;to work vigorously; to hurry
• HAIRST (n) harvest.

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slitter v. work or eat messily, splash about; smear or stain (with something)

“slitter v. work or eat messily, splash about; smear or stain (with something)”

21st August 2008

slitter

Slitter is a word often associated with minor domestic accidents, particularly in the kitchen or at the dinner table. An illustrative quotation from Ayrshire, found in the Dictionary of the Scots Language (www.dsl.ac.uk), provides a typical context: "Och, yuv slittered yer yoghurt!" Those who habitually engage in slittery activities may also find that the word is applied to them, as in: "She’s an awfie slitter when she’s painting", another example donated to the Dictionary by an Edinburgh ‘informant’.

Besides slitter, Scots also has words like slutter and sclutter which similarly indicate guddling about. Some of these variants are to some extent onomatopoeic, the word imitating the sound it describes, as in James Bell Salmond’s description of: "Two wild ducks who scluttered along the surface of the water" in The Toby Jug (1947). That said, there is probably a relationship between the word slutter and the word slut, with the meaning "a person of unclean or untidy habits".

Slitter also occurs in dialects in the north of England, and appears for example in The Diary of Robert Sharp of South Cave: Life in a Yorkshire Village 1812–1837 (1997): "This morning, I could not bear my Shoe on, so I slittered about with an old Slipper on". Slitterers can also be found in Scottish literature. A typical example occurs in Anna Blair’s novel, More Tea at Miss Cranston's (1991): "We'd an old woman washed our stair … slittered the water all over the place … left the close swimming". Figurative uses relating to sliding or dribbling are evidenced as well, as in Matthew Fitt’s novel, But n Ben A-Go-Go (2000): "his pus reversed itsel intae a concerned glower an the word ‘Nadia’ slittered oot the side o his mooth".