Skive is to wag is to ditch
14/Oct/2008
Skive is one of my favourite Scots words. I'm not sure if it's used down south too?
It worries me that it just took ten minutes of head-scratching to remember that the Australian verb for skipping school is to "wag". I need a trip home before I forget our language completely!
Really need to write a proper entry; just been sideswiped by a cold and a frozen, unreachable savings account. Hope you are well and groovy!
ETA: Play hooky! That's what you Americans call it. Thanks for reminding me.
We use ‘wag’ when skipping school, but skive tends to be used when skipping work. Don’t think I’ve ever seen it printed in a newspaper headline though!
Thank you for clairfying this! I actually saw it the other day on the street and i had no idea what it meant…
Well, I’m assuming at least someone uses it down south, as it’s a word used in a Robbie Williams song… I’ve used it here and have gotten my boyfriend saying it too. We use it for skipping most anything, though (work, planned outing, etc.).
I only knew what it meant because of the Skivving Snackboxes in Harry Potter.
Where do these words come from?
In the states we say “playing hooky”. I don’t even know what that means! Come to think of it, it sounds sort of kinky.
Skive makes it as far down South as Yorkshire. We sometimes call it “bunking off” too.
That sounds kind of kinky too though!
CP x
I agree with Marshmallow. I know what skive off means. But it’s usually used when shirking work.
In West Lothian, we “dogged it” from school. Well I didn’t because I was a good girl (aka coward). But LOTS of people did!
i’m from Oz too but we call it “jig”…dunno if that’s more un-Australian or not.
Poor Shauna – I know that sideswiped feeling, I too have a frozen unreachable account! There was a good article in the weekend guardian money section, it said we may have to wait until christmas. It also recommended keeping an eye on the fscs site: http://www.fscs.org.uk/consumer
Skive is definitely in use in the South, but I have also heard people call it “bunk off”.
This little wiki entry explains the word’s origins etc http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skive
In America we also “cut class.” Do they use that phrase in other countries?
Well at home in Tamworth, we’d say “He’s fucked off for the day.” Cause we were heaps rough and stuff, ya know?
Definitely used around the place – I remember the term when I was a kid in NZ (although that may be from having Geordie parents and watching too much British TV).
Usage: I should be working and not skiving off to read Shauna’s weblogs
Scott
Sorry to hear about the savings being frozen, but I like to think of it as Destiny’s way of telling you that there’s something even better around the corner
Maybe not only with laundry but even a dishwasher???
xo,
-Bex
I grew up in Devon and we definitely used skive as in skiving off school. I live in the US now and I still use it sometimes.
In Hull we called it ‘twagging off’ school. Sounds even more kinky than playing hooky…!
We “mitched” off school, not me obviously, but other bad girls.
Ah wagging! I was too much of a goody goody for that ;D I’ve been away so long I’m starting forget good old aussie words. My friend used to call tomato sauce dead horse. Here they call it ketchup. It’s sauce and it tastes like tomato even if it doesn’t have any actual tomato in it. Therefore it should be named tomato sauce! And even stuff like party pies, fairy bread, fly wire and the biggie – Thongs!
I agree about the plastic tubs! Lived in the UK for 14 months and every house I lived in had a plastic tub in the sink. It boggled my mind. What was wrong with washing dishes in the sink? Isn’t that what it’s there for? Even when I asked people why they did it they were just as clueless “Dunno. It’s what we’ve always done.”
I love learning Scots words….I like ‘skive’, I like ‘skint’, and I love, LOVE that they have more words for ‘drunk’ than in any other language.
Oh, the scots have indeed stolen my heart…
Skint isn’t Scottish. I thought skive was, but there you are. Do we really have more words for drunk? I can think of quite a lot of standard English ones. We do have quite a few for types of weather, though, mostly pertaining to wetness. Haar, smirr, or, for more examples:
http://www.rampantscotland.com/parliamo/blparliamo_weather.htm