[Ads-l] Skedaddle, skedaddling (incremental antedating to 1858?; 1859)

Wed Mar 17 18:09:09 UTC 2021

I believe "skidoodle," a variant of skedaddle, is a more likely direct 
influence on "skidoo."
Although if it's true that "skdao ol" is the origin of skedaddle as one 
observer believed, then I guess it would ultimately be the origin.

https://esnpc.blogspot.com/2015/02/skedaddle-skidoodle-skidoo-vanishing.html

------ Original Message ------
From: "Jonathan Lighter" <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
To: ADS-L at listserv.uga.edu
Sent: 3/17/2021 11:01:01 AM
Subject: Re: Skedaddle, skedaddling (incremental antedating to 1858?; 
1859)

>---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>Subject:      Re: Skedaddle, skedaddling (incremental antedating to 1858?;
>               1859)
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>So is "skidao" the origin of "skidoo"?
>
>JL
>
>On Wed, Mar 17, 2021 at 12:45 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <
>adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>  Thanks. Peter. Apologies for missing your valuable article on this topic.
>>
>>  Regarding "scud": A letter writer in August 1862 referred to Gaelic,
>>  Welsh, and Swedish while suggesting that skedaddle may have been
>>  constructed from scud+daddle or skud+daddle. Follow the link to see
>>  the clipping with the full text.
>>
>>  Date: August 30, 1862
>>  Newspaper: Rutland Daily Herald
>>  Newspaper Location: Rutland, Vermont
>>  Article: Origin of "SKEDADDLE"
>>  Author: A correspondent in Albany Evening Journal (reprinted)
>>  Quote Page 2, Column 3
>>  Database: Newspapers.com
>>
>>  https://www.newspapers.com/clip/73689220/scud-and-daddle/
>>
>>  [Begin excerpt]
>>  "Skedaddle" might be derived more naturally from skud or scud and
>>  daddle than from the Greek "Skedao."
>>  [End excerpt]
>>
>>  Garson
>>
>>
>>  On Wed, Mar 17, 2021 at 11:51 AM Peter Reitan <pjreitan at hotmail.com>
>>  wrote:
>>  >
>>  > I was browsing the McGregor newspaper to see some local history of my
>>  > nearby hometown, which is mentioned frequently in that paper.
>>  >
>>  > I ran across a word that might, maybe, could be related?  The word is
>>  > "scud," used at least regionally, apparently to mean leave, leave in a
>>  > hurry, or move quickly - like scoot.  "Scud" is used as a past tense.
>>  > Searching is difficult because most of the search results are for
>>  > "send," and many other results are from the more conventional sense of
>>  > "scudding."
>>  >
>>  > "Scud" appears to have a more common usage elsewhere, as a nautical term
>>  > with sailboats "scudding" in the wind, a yacht named "Scud," and as a
>>  > weather term for certain kinds of "scud" clouds.
>>  >
>>  > But at least regionally along the upper Mississippi, it appears to have
>>  > been used where "skedaddle" might later have been used, and I can
>>  > imagine someone elaborating on "scud" and adding "scud-addled" to be
>>  > funny.  No smoking gun, but a possibility?
>>  >
>>  > The one example I found is also from Mcgregor, Iowa.
>>  >
>>  > "A steamboat man came on shore the other day, enquired for 'Big Andy,'
>>  > took a look at him and scud instantly for the water!"
>>  > The North Iowa Times (Mcgregor, Iowa), June 13, 1860, page 2.
>>  > https://www.newspapers.com/clip/73671783/the-north-iowa-times/
>>  >
>>  >
>>  > I found two other examples of "scud" as walking, but they do not seem to
>>  > be perfect matches.  In each case, they used a nautical term, "to scud
>>  > under bare poles," as a metaphor for how women walking with their
>>  > dresses gathered close to the body.  "To scud under bare poles"
>>  > apparently refers to a sailing ship at sea, under the effects of wind
>>  > and current, with their sails down - the masts, or poles, bare.
>>  >
>>  > One example, women gather up their clothing to walk home in the rain
>>  > (well, they thought it was raining).
>>  >
>>  > "The scamps got a few pails of water, and wet the stairs and sidewalk
>>  > with a thorough drenching, and stood all around the doorway with their
>>  > umbrellas wide spread; which ominous sight was taken by the young ladies
>>  > and their beaux as they came down stairs as a pretty good sign of rain
>>  > overhead.  It is said that the girls pulled out their handkerchiefs and
>>  > covered up their bonnets, and gathered their silks, lawns and dimity, in
>>  > their hands, and thus close reefed, under bare poles began to scud
>>  > towards home."
>>  > Racine Journal (Racine, Wisconsin), June 8, 1859, page 3.
>>  > https://www.newspapers.com/clip/73672000/racine-journal/
>>  >
>>  >
>>  > Another example refers to women post-hoop skirt as "scudding along under
>>  > bare poles."
>>  >
>>  > "We notice that hoops are rapidly disappearing before fashion's
>>  > imperious mandate, and our belles who a few months since were sailing
>>  > along East Water Street like half inflated balloons, now scud along
>>  > under bare poles, looking like dismantled vessels."
>>  > North Iowa Times (Mcgregor, Iowa), March 21, 1860, page 1 (apparently a
>>  > reprint of an article from the Milwaukee Free Democrat about the end of
>>  > hoop skirt-fashion).
>>  > https://www.newspapers.com/clip/73676065/the-north-iowa-times/
>>  >
>>  >
>>  >
>>  >
>>  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>  > On Tue, Mar 16, 2021 at 3:23 PM Bonnie Taylor-Blake
>>  > <b.taylorblake at gmail.com>
>>  > wrote:
>>  >
>>  > "Skedaddle" and variants have come up on the list before, with John
>>  > Baker
>>  > pushing this back to December, 1859. See his post and follow-ups:
>>  > http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2016-April/141953.html.
>>  > (BTW, OED still shows as its earliest example one from 1861.)
>>  >
>>  >
>>  > 1) Here's something from McGregor, Iowa, in the fall of 1858, which
>>  > suggests that a form of "skedaddle" was at least in place there. I'm not
>>  > sure what "we will make it 'Skeedaddle'" means in the first text, though
>>  > "Skeedaddle" is, according to the second, clearly a nickname for someone
>>  > named Harrington. So, "we will make it 'Skeedaddle'" is obviously some
>>  > sort
>>  > of wordplay. (I wish "Skeedaddle" here meant "scatter," but does it seem
>>  > to
>>  > imply "appear"?)
>>  >
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