Skip to main content

Surprise: 'skewiff' is a real word

I had a weird moment today when morning editor Ruth used the word "skewiff". I had only ever, ever, ever heard that word used by Amanda and her family. I thought it was one of those in-a-family funny mispronounced words that gets passed down through the generations.

But no! Ruth uses it too. The connection is their families' British ancestry, I guess.

I find "skewiff" in the Online Dictionary of Playground Slang, defined as "awry; out of alignment".

So now we have the definition of skewiff, its origin, and multiple independent usages. Of course, just putting into Google turns up use of skewiff all over the place, so I'm no genius or trailblazer for realizing this.

This realization is similar, though not of the same magnitude, as the first time I went to St. John's, NL. My girlfriend at the time used to call me "m'love" in a Newfie accent, and I found it charming and sweet. So we go to a diner and the waitress walks up and says, "So, what'll it be, m'love?" And I was all like ... um ... you mean you *all* say that? It's not a special affectionate term? Gosh.

Anyway, I hope your day is not going all skewiff.
Labels:

Comments

  1. AlanpMarch 8, 2009 at 1:39 AM

    I'm pretty sure nearly everyone in Australia knows what skewiff means. Crooked or out of alignment eg. "that picture is hanging skewiff!"

    ReplyDelete
  2. PiKJuly 21, 2010 at 11:12 PM

    Yup, but us Aussies are more likely to say "ya picture's out of whack!" :)

    ....the more you know....

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousOctober 27, 2010 at 7:58 AM

    http://www.thefreedictionary.com/skew-whiff

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Today was my last day at work, and I'm okay with that

Today marks a weird spot on the calendar for me. It’s one of those landmarks that really doesn’t mean anything, other than to illustrate the weirdness of time and how we feel it. As of today, my son Gordon has been without his mother longer than he was with her. The length of time Amanda has been gone is now longer than the length of time we were a family of three. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like it’s been that long, but that dangblasted calendar tells me it’s almost three years. I have not said a word about it to G, but tonight, for the first time in a long time, he pulled out the Missing Mummy book for bedtime. Today was my last day in broadcasting for a while, as far as I can tell. I spent the past five years as Program Director at Newstalk 1290 CJBK in London, Ontario. And in recent years, I was also the noon-hour show host, afternoon news anchor, a commercial voice guy, TV news promo voice guy, and more. Also in the past five years, I’ve bought a house, endured renovation
1 comment
Read more after this break ....

A request, as we reach two years

Wow, long time no write. I didn't enjoy this past winter. I was certainly in a long slump. Things were very challenging at work. Gordon was awesome, as always, but I was just in a sustained funk from last summer on. And I'm not sure I'm all the way out of it yet. I'm still largely in quiet hermit mode, but have been making progress at resuming social contact. Little dude and I have a very busy summer that will go by in a flash. This Thursday will mark two years since Amanda died. I still replay the events of that night in my head almost every day. I'd like to not. Sometimes it feels like forever ago, but sometimes I'm right there all over again. Hey, can I ask for your help with something? Two years ago, so many wonderful people told me that if there was anything they could do to help .... Well, I don't ask often. And I should've asked more. And I should ask more even now. I'm still not comfortable asking. But I'm asking for this. I put
3 comments
Read more after this break ....

Hard to believe it's been a year - but it has

One year ago today, we lost Amanda. Time plays tricks on all of us. We can think "that was so long ago" at the same time as "it feels like yesterday." I run into this all the time with Amanda's death. Yes, it feels like just yesterday, or last night, or later today, that Amanda collapsed in the kitchen and died after that long, brutal battle with ovarian cancer. But every day has ticked by at a pace like any other, and it's been a whole year of those days, with incremental and sometimes revolutionary change. As I move about our home, it's hard to fathom that she's been gone a whole year. Amanda's garden awakens, early Spring 2017. Many of the decorative items she carefully arranged throughout the house are in the exact same place as the last time she touched them. She had the vision, not me, so I've been reluctant to disturb her decisions on what looks good and works. In other places, I'm reminded that it's been at least
4 comments
Read more after this break ....