scoff/scarf

[Wilson Gray]

Well, the meaning could very well have evolved over the years. Indeed,
different meanings in different circumstances at different times, or
even at the same time, for the same term are not unknown. As both my
friend's folk-etymology and your comment thereupon indicate, the term
was not new even in 1961.

-Wilson

On 8/30/07, Laurence Urdang <urdang at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Urdang <urdang at SBCGLOBAL.NET>
> Subject:      scoff/scarf
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>
> Since the first quote in the OED for scoff is the same year when he was born, it is rather unlikely (but, for some, not impossible) that it was formed on the name of Auguste Escoffier.
>   I first encountered it in the UK, in the 1970s.  Later, when I encountered scarf among native speakers in the New York area, it occurred to me that it was a resurrection (hypercorrection, if you prefer) of the r-less form scoff by those speakers who want listeners to know that they are aware there is an "r" in the spelling of a word, which, of course, there wasn't---at least if one compares the history of scoff and scarf in the OED.
>   I wanted to check it in the Century, but I couldn't get it on line and was too lazy to pick up the volume in the next room.
>   Also, the meaning has always seemed to me closer to 'gorge oneself; eat voraciously' than to 'eat heartily.'
>   L. Urdang
>   Old Lyme
>
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