Say What?
I looked out the back door this morning and told Ann "We got us a skiff of snow last night". A WHAT? I thought a skiff was a small boat. Surely that's not where the word came from! Quick Batman! To the GoogleMobile!
Along with many other Gaelic words turned into English, skiff comes from the unpronouncable Gaelic word "sgiobhag"
Some more examples include:
- blather (bladar)
- brisk (brisg/briosc)
- galore (gu leňir)
- smidgen (smidin)
- slogan (sluggh-ghairm)
- smithereens (smidiríní)
- shanty (seann taigh)
- slew (sluagh)
- and of course: whiskey (uisce/uisge) = water (of life)