Query about slang "scootch"-- Why -ch?

[Jonathan Lighter]

I think it's a lot older than Japanese-derived "skosh."  Always assumed it's just "scoot" with a palatalized final consonant, maybe originally before "over."

FWIW

JL

"Mullins, Bill" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: "Mullins, Bill"
Subject: Re: Query about slang "scootch"-- Why -ch?
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Related, maybe, to "skosh" (long o, I don't know how to write it in
ASCII), Wisconsinese for a small amount?

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society
> [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Cohen, Gerald Leonard
> Sent: Wednesday, February 23, 2005 5:17 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Query about slang "scootch"-- Why -ch?
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: "Cohen, Gerald Leonard"
> Subject: Query about slang "scootch"-- Why -ch?
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> -----------------
>
> The wife of a colleague has asked me about slang "scootch"
> (move a small amount), a term I had never heard before. The
> term clearly derives from "scoot," but how did -ch get added to it?
>
> The Online slang Dictionary
> (http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~wrader/slang/s.html)
> says only:
> scootch v 1. move a small amount; SCOOT. ("Scootch your
> seat over here." "We'll just scootch them together.")
> Submitted by Kay Turner, Bella Vista, AR, USA, 28-11-2002.
>
> Meanwhile, the woman who asked me about "scootch"
> indicates that her family has been familiar with the term for
> some time:
>
> "[...]It sounds like a blend to me. But blending "scoot"
> with what? I can't think of a "ch" word that means to move
> over a little without picking the object or oneself up off
> the surface. I also have the impression that it's used - at
> least in my family - to mean to move over a smaller distance
> than a "scoot" would require. Like a "smidgen."
>
> Any ideas? She's 90 [i.e. her mother-in-law] - just had a
> big celebration for her in KC over the weekend, and sure
> enough, the word came up - often - and she mentioned she
> surely would like to know how and when we started putting the
> "ch" on "scoot" - and why. She's mentioned this in previous
> years, but with family from all over the country and Canada
> there - all using the term - it became a real curiosity for
> us all. Would please an old lady who is an appreciator of
> words to have an answer! [...]"
>
> Would anyone in ads-l have any suggestions on this?
>
> Gerald Cohen
>

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