Word of the week

• Hoast n., v. a cough, to cough
• Droukit past participle drenched, soaked.
• 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.

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SKELP n to slap, spank; v to strike, spank;to work vigorously; to hurry

“SKELP n to slap, spank; v to strike, spank;to work vigorously; to hurry”

22nd September 2008

Skelp

Skelp has been around in Scots at least since 1540, when it appears in David Lindsay?s Ane Pleasant Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis: 'I sowld haif revin thame all in raggis, And laid on skelp for skelp'. A further alliterative threat of violence comes from Poems and Songs by Richard Gall (died 1801): Baith fools an' knaves you crousely bang, An' wightly wag the skelping whang?. Schoolteachers were well known for skelping. The skelp might be administered on the buttocks, earning teachers the unflattering nickname of 'skelp-dowp', or on the lug, but the preferred skelp was on the hand with tawse and it is sadly well-documented that one reason was for speaking Scots within earshot of the domine; William Neill writes in Making Tracks 'For speakin Scots wee duddie bairns are skelpit.' We hope these days are behind us, but there is still a case to be made for the increased use of Scots in the classroom.

A slap is not always administered as punishment; the howdy-skelp was the midwife's welcome to a new-born baby.

The sense of working vigorously is exemplified by Robert Burns in his Epistle to J. Lapraik, to whom he writes ?I?m bizzie too, an? skelpin at it.' A peaceful and rather poignant quotation comes from J. Young?s Poorhouse Lays (1860): 'Her gentler tailors sat in raws, Thrang (busy) skelpin at the Nairday braws.' At the other extreme, however, we have a quotation dating from about 1887 in the St Andrews Citizen of 20 March 1937: 'For three long hours the battle raged, An' at it hard they skelpit.'

Travelling at speed we have Burns' Tam o Shanter as he 'skelpit on through dub and mire' just as people still go at some skelp along the M8.