Timeline for Scoot over - how to use
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
16 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jan 5, 2017 at 13:21 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | @DCShannon: When several people are on a bench seat they'll usually space themselves about equally, so if someone else wants to sit down it stands to reason they all need to be "forced" to move up a bit. I've also heard cootch up, which has more the sense of "huddle together closer, freeing up extra seating". But only ever in a Welsh accent (and as I just found from that link, it can also be written cwtch - typical Welsh spelling! :) | |
| S Jan 5, 2017 at 11:21 | history | suggested | LongTailedY | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
fixed typo changed definitions into quotes
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| Jan 5, 2017 at 10:53 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| S Jan 5, 2017 at 11:21 | |||||
| Jan 5, 2017 at 2:09 | comment | added | DCShannon | @FumbleFingers You can scoot somewhere in America, and it also implies it was a quick trip. I might scoot down to the corner store, but I wouldn't scoot over to the next state. I don't think we're familiar with "budge up". That sounds awfully British. I do know "wouldn't budge", though. Budge sort of implies someone is trying to force the thing to move. | |
| Jan 5, 2017 at 2:05 | comment | added | DCShannon | You may also be interested in the related "scootch". If you want someone to move over, you can use just that one word as an imperative: "Hey, scootch!" | |
| Jan 4, 2017 at 23:05 | comment | added | 1006a | You might be interested to know that (in American English) the phrase is sometimes scooch over (sometimes spelled scootch). This is probably even a little less formal than scoot over but is otherwise used exactly the same way. (However, in wider usage scooch has slightly different connotations than scoot, as it very specifically implies a kind of inching movement. You can also scooch in different directions, e.g. scooch down or scooch back; or contexts, e.g. scooch past/around an obstacle; and things can be scooched, e.g. scooch your chair up to the table.) | |
| Jan 4, 2017 at 20:19 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/StackEnglishLL/status/816740860025065474 | ||
| Jan 4, 2017 at 19:17 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | @DavydDiniz: Perhaps the "budge up" sense is more specifically an AmE usage (I've just confirmed with OED that the origin is probably the same Old Norse word that gave us shoot = go quickly). I did just find an example AmE context where it's used instead of roll over in the children's ditty There were two in the bed and the little one said, "Scoot over, scoot over!". I'd say that's at the very least "non-standard", but apparently transitive Scoot it over here is common enough in AmE. | |
| Jan 4, 2017 at 19:03 | vote | accept | Davyd | ||
| Jan 4, 2017 at 18:38 | comment | added | Davyd | @FumbleFingers there you are: idioms.thefreedictionary.com/scoot+over The same source you sent me earlier today, which I wasn't sure whether I should trust it or not, but.. Scroll down the page, the exemple is in the middle of the page. | |
| Jan 4, 2017 at 18:32 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | I wouldn't really say that to scoot [over] specifically means to budge up (make room for a newcomer, e.g. by sliding along a bench to open up another seating position). In BrE you can just as easily scoot over to your mate's house (it simply means to move [somewhere] quickly). I've never heard it used transitively (i.e. - Scoot that chair over here! doesn't work for me). | |
| Jan 4, 2017 at 18:27 | answer | added | mike | timeline score: 9 | |
| Jan 4, 2017 at 18:25 | answer | added | Andrew | timeline score: 6 | |
| Jan 4, 2017 at 18:24 | comment | added | stangdon | Actually, I think you understand it pretty well already - pretty much all of your examples are excellent! | |
| Jan 4, 2017 at 18:24 | comment | added | StoneyB on hiatus | All of your conjectures are accurate. Scoot is a regular verb, so the past and past participle are both scooted and the present participle is scooting. | |
| Jan 4, 2017 at 18:17 | history | asked | Davyd | CC BY-SA 3.0 |