slang "Scotch!" (= great!)

[Joseph McCollum]

On Tue, 18 May 1999 14:07:58 -0400 Larry Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
writes:
>At 11:28 AM -0600 5/18/99, Gerald Cohen wrote:
>>   The _NY Times_, May 15, 1999, Sec. A, p.27, col. 2 (part of a col.
>1-6 article entitled "How I Kicked The Talk-Show-Guest Habit", by Debbie
>>Nathan) contains a slang item "Scotch" I had never encountered:
>>
>>     "A stretch limo! Scotch!"
>>

Ethnic jokes depict the Scotch as a people reluctant to spend money.
Perhaps the speaker is saying that getting a ride in a stretch limo for
free is something that the Scotch would want.

My desk dictionary conjectures that the derivation of the verb "scotch"
as in "to scotch a rumor," is [late ME scocche; prob. b. score and
notch].

How about this one:

scot-free:  adj.  1.  free from hardm or penalty.  2.  free from payment
of scot.
scot:  n.  Hist.  1. a payment or charge.  2.  an assessment or tax.
        [ME< Scand; cf. Icel. skot, c. OE gescot].

Then there's always the exclamation "Great Scott!"
(to what or whom does this one refer?)

___________________________________________________________________
You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html
or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]