Re[6]: [tied] Re: Brugmann's Law

At 9:19:11 PM on Saturday, January 19, 2008, Rick
McCallister wrote:

> --- "Brian M. Scott" <BMScott@...> wrote:

[...]

>> An 11/2002 addition s.v. <scag>:

>> scag, n.

>> * derogatory.

>> a. U.S. (orig. in African-American usage). An
>> unattractive woman.

>> 1938 Amer. Speech 13 316/2 Slang among
>> Nebraska negroes... A young woman of none too
>> pleasing appearance is a skag or a hag.

[...]

> So, perhaps scag is from the Scots form of "shaggy" in the
> sense of "unkempt". [...]

Despite 'orig. in African-American usage'? And the pairing
with <hag>?

> And perhaps skank is from scag.

> The meaning is virtually the same, although scag also has
> overtones of ugliness and bad taste.

Overtones? That seems to be the main force of '[a]n
unattractive woman'.

> A skank is a streetwalker or cheap prostitute

Among others. 'A person (esp. a woman) regarded as
unattractive, sleazy, sexually promiscuous, or immoral.' In
the earliest OED citation that I quoted last time it is used
of a couple of girls described as 'plain, promiscuous --
prostitutes without pay'.

> --not usually known for their good taste in make-up and
> clothes. Scag, of couse, is or was also a slang word for
> "heroin". Since I don't associate with that set, I don't
> know what the current status of that meaning is.

Before that it was a slang term for a cigarette.

> Another phenomenon to consider is the -ing/k > -ang/k
> change in Southern English for emphasis; e.g. stinky >
> "stanky", thing > thang, etc. Perhaps skank < skink --just
> a guess

That's hardly just for emphasis, at least in <thing>: there
are places where [TæIN] is the normal pronunciation.

Brian