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<blockquote data-quote="Wofano Wotanto" data-source="post: 9419946" data-attributes="member: 7044704">&quot;Skinker&quot; is an archaic term for one who pours libations, ie a bartender.&nbsp; Not often these days that I encounter a useful, easily-remembered word to add to my personal lexicon, but that's a good one.If the OTR show I picked it up from is correct, it was little-remembered even in 1949.Addendum:&nbsp; Further research shows that the term was in use as early as 1575, and appears to be derived from Middle English, Dutch, Old Norse and proto-Germanic words meaning &quot;to give a present&quot; - as in, present someone with a drink, in this case.&nbsp; &quot;Skink&quot; was synonymous with the noun &quot;a drink&quot; in Scotland at some point, although it also acted as a verb for pouring one with the usual conjugation - skink, skinked, skinking.For added confusion, another unrelated series of Germanic and Danish words led to Scotland also using &quot;skink&quot; to mean a shank cut of ham or beef or stew made of same.&nbsp; And because the Danish root words for both meanings was pronounced with more of a sch- or sh sound, &quot;shink&quot; was could be used in place of skink in English during some periods.None of this has anything to do with the mostly-legless skink lizards, nor (somewhat counterintuitively) does Cockney rhyming slang appear to enter into it - came along too late, I suppose.If there's a lesson to be learned, it's to be wary of asking your skinker in Glasgow to get you some shink unless you're prepared to get beef pottage instead of beer.&nbsp; Also, language is ridiculous and the mere idea of everyone speaking &quot;Common&quot; is absurd.&nbsp; <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile&nbsp; &nbsp; :)"&nbsp; data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

[QUOTE="Wofano Wotanto, post: 9419946, member: 7044704"] "Skinker" is an archaic term for one who pours libations, ie a bartender. Not often these days that I encounter a useful, easily-remembered word to add to my personal lexicon, but that's a good one. If the OTR show I picked it up from is correct, it was little-remembered even in 1949. Addendum: Further research shows that the term was in use as early as 1575, and appears to be derived from Middle English, Dutch, Old Norse and proto-Germanic words meaning "to give a present" - as in, present someone with a drink, in this case. "Skink" was synonymous with the noun "a drink" in Scotland at some point, although it also acted as a verb for pouring one with the usual conjugation - skink, skinked, skinking. For added confusion, another unrelated series of Germanic and Danish words led to Scotland also using "skink" to mean a shank cut of ham or beef or stew made of same. And because the Danish root words for both meanings was pronounced with more of a sch- or sh sound, "shink" was could be used in place of skink in English during some periods. None of this has anything to do with the mostly-legless skink lizards, nor (somewhat counterintuitively) does Cockney rhyming slang appear to enter into it - came along too late, I suppose. If there's a lesson to be learned, it's to be wary of asking your skinker in Glasgow to get you some shink unless you're prepared to get beef pottage instead of beer. Also, language is ridiculous and the mere idea of everyone speaking "Common" is absurd. :) [/QUOTE]

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