Glossary: S

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As in, "He/she would lick whisky off a scabby leg." Said of a person whose appetite for alcohol exceeds all bounds of taste and decorum.

Scobie

See scumbag.

Scratcher, the

Dublin slang for Social Welfare payment, the dole.

Scumbag

The term `scumbag' has quite a specific meaning in Dublin, compared to its role as a generalised term of abuse elsewhere. A scumbag refers to those individuals, seen in every Western country (and in other countries too, where they're generally running the place) whose job it is to hang around on corners in groups, menacingly asking passersby what they think they're looking at.

The generic Dublin scumbag is from a working-class neighbourhood, often on the Northside (see Dublin), or the rebel offspring of a middle-class household doing their utmost to piss off their parents. The generic scumbag usually wears sports clothing (the larger the logo, the better. The jerseys worn by British soccer clubs are also very popular) and a pair of running shoes so futuristic they look like a ray gun from Star Trek. Gold chains and sovereign rings are very much the `in' things for an about-the-town scumbag to be wearing. In other words, our scumbag chums are attempting to look as much as possible like gangsta rappers, pasty Irish complexions notwithstanding. The generic scumbag will be unable to utter two consecutive words without using the word `fuck'; indeed, he may infuckingsert the F-word into any polyfuckingsyllabic words he speaks, just to be sure. If the scumbag asks you what you're looking at (sorry, fuckin' looking at), prepare to run very quickly.

See also knacker.

Scuttered

see drunk.

Scutters, the

A case of diarrhoea.

Shebeen

From the Irish síbín or séibín "illegal pub or drinking house". As above.

Shifting

Generic term for all manner of amorous activities, ranging from what the Americans like to call `heavy petting' to full penetrative sex, depending on where in Ireland the speaker is from. Any use of the word in a conversation among a group of Irish people from different parts of the country is likely to sidetrack the whole conversation into a long, boring argument over the "correct" meaning of the word, with each person expounding at length why the particular meaning of the word in his/her city, town, village, parish, or clan is the One True Meaning Of Shift.

Shoneen

(largely obsolete) An Irish person who collaborated with the British administration in Ireland; someone who adopted British customs; a traitor. Compare West Brit.

Slapper

A female scumbag.

Smig

A goatee beard. Smig is the Irish word for "chin".

Spondulicks

Money.

Starting

Any sort of overtly aggressive or swaggering behaviour calculated to start a fight. "Are you starting?" is a phrase you never want to hear from the lips of a Dubliner, especially if said Dubliner is of the scumbag persuasion.

Strap

A woman deficient in the qualities of the traditional Irish colleen, by showing an alarming tendency to think for herself. It comes from the Irish word straipeach, which means "prostitute". Rarely used.

Stroke

Often pronounced `shtroke' in a cod-Irish accent. A political or other favour obtained through unofficial channels. The bread and butter of the gombeen man and the cute whoor.