Scottish Culture/Scottish Phrase

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Expert: Kaye McAlpine - 10/13/2009


Question
My wife uses the term "Skee wiff" to describe a golf shot that is hit offline.  Can you help me with the derivation of this term?

Answer
Hello Murray

This is an interesting one - I'm not sure if the phrase can be entirely attributed to Scots, or if it's moved into general parlance from Scots.
I say skew whiff, which is a variant, and I reckon skew can be pronounced differently dependent on your locality.

The 'skew' or in your wife's case, the 'skee' part, originates in mediaeval English 'skewe' and that's a variant of the Old French 'eschiver' / 'eschuir' and that can be dated to the 11th and 12th century. Both early French and early English are some of the sources for Scots words. They all mean to turn to the side or to  go off at an oblique angle.

As for the whole phrase, there doesn't seem to be much agreement on that, but I wonder if it's related to some of the meanings of 'whiff' or 'wiff' . This can mean a slight attack of something or a touch of something, when applied to a mood or an illness, or it can mean something driven by blowing, so I wonder if it originates with something being blown off kilter or on to a wrong angle.

As you're probably aware, the phrase can be used for anything that's not straight or properly aligned, whether that's, say, a golf shot, the way a picture is hung on a wall, how a pile of wood has been arranged etc etc.

I hope this helps!

best wishes

Kaye  

Scottish Culture

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Kaye McAlpine

Expertise

Lifecycle (birth, marriage, death) customs in Scotland, Early Modern Scottish social customs, modern Scottish social customs, Border March laws and procedures, criminal processes and judicial execution practices, social history in Early Modern Scotland, ephemera printing in Scotland. While I have some knowledge of the clan system and function of the clan society (Highland and Lowland), I am not a an expert in clan genealogy. Having traced back my own family over a couple of centuries, and traced others due to academic research, I do know how the system works, however. This doesn't mean that I'm a genealogist. Please note that I do not speak Gaelic.

Experience

Research Fellow (University of Edinburgh). Contributer to various books and journals on ballads, including Scottish Life and Society: A Compendium of Scottish Ethnology, The Ballad and History and The Harris Repertoire. Freelance tutor in outreach courses from Edinburgh University on Scottish Culture and Tradition, including lifecycle customs, broadsheet ballads in Scotland, the traditional ballad and history. Freelance writer, guest presenter on Ch4 History Hunters programme, contributor to BBC Radio Scotland's 'Songlines' series on 'The Dowie Dens of Yarrow'. Currently co-director of a media production company

Publications
Books: Forthcoming: The Gallows and The Stake Published: Compendium of Scottish Ethnology, vol. 10, chapter on The Traditional and the Border Ballad; The Harris Repertoire (2000, Scottish Text Society, co-editor), The Ballad in History (chapter on Border ballads). Journals include Folklore, The Review of Scottish Culture,Sottish Studies, and The Scottish Literary Journal

Education/Credentials
Ph D, M. Phil, BA (hons)

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