"Scritch"

[Jeff Prucher]

I don't recall the cartoon, but the word is in my active vocabulary, although I
don't limit its use to ears (or to furries, for that matter) -- some cats, for
example, respond better to a good rib-scritching.

Jeff Prucher


--- Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "Scritch"
>
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Why, I don't know, but recall the cartoon too. I interpreted it to mean that
> "scritch" represented a somewhat softer sound.
>
>   The word hasn't entered my active vocabulary though.
>
>   JL
>
> "Joanne M. Despres" <jdespres at MERRIAM-WEBSTER.COM> wrote:
>   ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: "Joanne M. Despres"
> Subject: Re: "Scritch"
>
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I'm definitely familiar with the sense you describe. It's in my active
> vocabulary (perhaps because I was a "Peanuts" reader as a kid).
> But it's nowhere to be found in the M-W citation files.
>
> I don't know whether Schultz invented the word, but it seems likely
> enough. The only other senses I've found attested in the files were
> a dialectal variant of "screech" (in W3) and a noun denoting the
> sound of scraping or scratching (as of animal's feet on the hard
> surface).
>
> Joanne
>
> On 3 Feb 2006, at 10:41, Jim Parish wrote:
>
> > On another list, a correspondent from the Netherlands was puzzled by
> > the word "scritch", meaning the kind of affectionate rubbing/scratching
> > one applies to a pet's ears. My first encounter with the word was in a
> > Peanuts cartoon in the '60s, in which Charlie Brown demonstrated the
> > difference between scritching and scratching to Lucy. Two questions:
> >
> > 1) How widely known is the word? (Are other USAn, or non-USAn,
> > listmembers familiar with it?)
> >
> > 2) Did Charles Schulz actually coin the word?
> >
> > Jim Parish
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Relax. Yahoo! Mail virus scanning helps detect nasty viruses!
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org