English Language & Usage Asked on March 29, 2021
In the second season, episode 4 of Derry Girls, in the last two minutes, the girls are caught trying to get rid of ‘happy’ scones, flushing them through the toilet, which gets clogged. In the next scene, someone asks Erin kindly:
How are your scoots now, Erin, love?
Considering the scene before it, I’d assume scoots here means bowels. But I’ve never heard this expression. I understand that dogs or cats can “scoot”, and that as a verb it’s a rather common word. But none of the dictionaries I consulted online (Oxford, Cambridge, Webster, The Free Online Dictionary) mentions such meaning as a noun at all. And it doesn’t seem related to its meaning as a verb either.
Is this Irish slang? Or (not so) common use of the word in this meaning in common English? And more importantly, as non native speaker, is there some tongue-in-cheek I’m missing?
PS: Later, same scene, the word is used again:
Can we please stop talking about Erin’s scoots, we’re about to have our tea.
According to the free dictionary scoots means
(slang) Diarrhea
Which is in context with the scene you're describing.
Correct answer by 3kstc on March 29, 2021
Green’s Dictionary of Slang has usage examples from late 19th century. The term does not appear to be an Irish one.
scoot n. [euph. of shit n.]
diarrhoea; thus a general term of abuse; occas. in plural, the scoots.
1890 - (UK) ‘’Arry on the Sincerest Form of Flattery’ in Punch 20 Sept. 144/2: Sech scoots scurryfunging around on the gay old galoot to go snacks / In the profits of other folks’ notions.
1906 [US] J.W. Carr ‘Words from Northwest Arkansas’ in DN III:iii 155: scoot, n. Rascal. ‘He’s an old scoot’.
Answered by user 66974 on March 29, 2021
Agreed that it is likely slang for diarrhea. OED: Pronunciation: Brit. /skuːt/, U.S. /skut/, Scottish /skut/
Forms: Also scout.
Frequency (in current use):
Etymology: < scoot v.1
Scottish.
1880 Jamieson's Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. (new ed.) Scoot, 1. A gush or flow of water; also, the pipe or opening from which it flows. Clydes.
Answered by Katya on March 29, 2021
Possibly from the Gaelic “sciodor” diarrhea. In Derry often pronounced “skitter” in English. Hence “scoots”, very frequently used to refer to diarrhea in Derry where Gaelic/Irish words are found hidden among the English. Another phrase similarly from Irish to be heard in Derry is, “See ye lamara” “ I’ll see you tomorrow”, it’s not just a lazy way of pronouncing tomorrow but has it’s roots in the Gaelic word “amarach” which means tomorrow.
Answered by Paul Bradley on March 29, 2021
'Squits' is a similar term commonly used in colloquial British English for diarrhoea. This meaning of the word is found in British dictionaries (Oxford, Collins, etc), but not in Merriam-Webster, so I guess it's not a common term in the US.
Answered by Kirsten Burrell on March 29, 2021
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