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

[J. Eulenberg]

I failed to read the entire set of discussions.  In addition to my
friend's "skosh," I have certainly heard and used "scootch," as in
"scootch down this way" and "scootch together" both.  Is this my lingering
Dallas "dialect" again?

Julia Niebuhr Eulenberg <eulenbrg at u.washington.edu>

On Wed, 23 Feb 2005, Patty Davies wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Patty Davies <patty at CRUZIO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Query about slang "scootch"-- Why -ch?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 03:17 PM 2/23/05, you wrote:
>>   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
>
>
> I don't have any information on origin but I have heard & used 'scootch'
> all my life -  I'm almost 50, West coast, southern Calif .  More often used
> with scootching over rather than scootch down.
>
> Patty
>