blatherskite
Apr. 14th, 2014 07:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prettygoodwordblatherskite (BLATH-er-skahyt) - n., a talkative, contemptible person; foolish talk, nonsense, blather.
Essentially, the Scots took blather (from an Old English root meaning nonsense) and added an intensifying suffix -- but exactly what suffix, there's disagreement: it could be either skite meaning shit or skate meaning a contemptible person. Either way, it first appears in writing around 1650. That it's used at all in America stems from the song "Maggie Lauder," which was popular with soldiers in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. It's not so very common any more, though, and so more British usage these days.
---L.
Essentially, the Scots took blather (from an Old English root meaning nonsense) and added an intensifying suffix -- but exactly what suffix, there's disagreement: it could be either skite meaning shit or skate meaning a contemptible person. Either way, it first appears in writing around 1650. That it's used at all in America stems from the song "Maggie Lauder," which was popular with soldiers in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. It's not so very common any more, though, and so more British usage these days.
---L.
