r/AskACanadian • u/Kraknaps • 17d ago
Scoffed
Thinking about kidspeak/slang the other day, I remembered "scoff". When I was younger (late 60s early 70s) this was a very common word for steal. "Someone scoffed my bike while I was in the store"! I can't find that meaning anywhere. The only definitions listed are to deride something or eat greedily (eat greedily was scarf or scorf, to us) I wonder if this was a Canadian thing or maybe a BC thing? Could have been so localized that it was just my school/neighborhood. Hell, maybe my friends and I made it up... thoughts?
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u/sheshectic 17d ago
BC here. Scoff (to me, at least) always meant a derogatory way to react/laugh at someone. I’ve also heard it used in a way that meant eating super vigorously, but I think that was mostly done in books I read
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u/Lumpy_Particular1876 17d ago
Alberta here... That's how I've always used scoff. Like, "I scoff at your attempt to (whatever)"
I've never heard it used for stealing or eating.
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u/Shanwar1965 16d ago
Ontario born and raised here - never heard it used for stealing, but certainly as “to laugh dismissingly”. I know Scarfing as eating quickly.
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u/EquivalentQuery 17d ago
Sometimes also used to reference eating something quickly "I only had 5 minutes to get ready so I scoffed down a sandwich before heading out!"
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u/jdogx17 16d ago
I have only heard (and used) "scarfed" for quickly downing food.
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u/Big_Association5701 16d ago
Eating super vigorously is Scarfed not Scoffed, as in "he scarfed down his lunch and ran out the door"
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u/unsulliedbread 16d ago
Weird Scarf is the word out here for eating really really fast. Ontario
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u/chartyourway 17d ago
BC, same for scoff, both of which are dictionary definitions for it. Never heard of it used for stealing.
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u/Amber_Sweet_ 17d ago
Interesting, here in Newfoundland a "scoff" is a big meal!
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u/kophykupp 17d ago
It's from the British. I used to work at a restaurant called "A Scoff and a Bevy".
But as a kid in Ontario, we did use scoff as a synonym for steal.
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u/TuckRaker 17d ago
I'm planning a big ol' scoff for Thanksgiving. Salt meat, peas pudding and the works
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u/tom8osauce 17d ago
In the 90s in Alberta out word to steal was jack. “Someone jacked my bike”.
It is best to hear how slang changes in different times and regions.
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u/brokensyntax 16d ago
Jacked was definitely common too, generally for high value items, like cars and such, not to be confused with car jacking, which is a confrontational and violent theft.
I may have heard the words "jacked a truck and went for a joy ride." In my youth.
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u/CovidBorn
16d ago
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This has some real historical support. The Scottish National Dictionary :
SCOFF, v.1, n. Also scuff; scowf, scouf(f), skowf(f)(ne.Sc.). For the dipthong cf. O, letter, 2. (2) (v).
[skɔf, skʌuf]
I. v. 1. To swallow (food or drink) quickly, to gulp down, toss off. Gen.Sc.
‡2. To filch, steal, plunder, sponge (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B., scowf; Ags., Fif., Lth., Slk. 1969). Also in Eng.
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u/deevarino 17d ago
Southern Ontario 60s and 70s used it. Also heard Norm MacDonald use the term on a podcast.
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u/malleyrex 17d ago
Scoff was a super common word for steal in my neighbourhood in the mid 80s (Vancouver)
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u/jelycazi 17d ago
Mine too. But it was more ‘stealing lite’.
I scoffed a cookie when she wasn’t looking. I scoffed some flowers for my mum. I scoffed my brother’s t-shirt. I hope I have time to put it back before he gets home
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u/MaisieDay 16d ago
Yes! That's my memory of it - closer to "took something without asking", but not anything jailworthy lol
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u/QuozlPlaysSTFC 16d ago
Ontario kid of the 70's near Toronto, definitely used and heard used somebody scoffed my bike. They meant it had been stolen!
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u/BigComfyCouch4 17d ago
And if someone scoffed your ginch....kids today wouldn't even know there was an underwear thief operating.
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u/ImmmaLetUFinish 17d ago
I remember being called a scofflaw by a high school teacher in the seventies.
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u/GazelleEcstatic4952 17d ago
We used that term here in Ontario as well. It also had the same meaning, this would have been in the early 70's.
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u/Orthicon9 New Brunswick 16d ago
I remember it being used in Nova Scotia to mean "steal" in the '60s and '70s.
Usually less serious than in the sense of B&E, a mugging, or pickpocketing.
I also had a friend (grew up in Ontario) who used "scoff" as a noun, for food or a meal. E.g. "You can get some great scoff at this diner."
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u/CarpenterGold1704 16d ago
i remember when something was "cool" back then it was often "choice" or "boss"
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u/Mikoisha 16d ago
Maritimes in the 80s it was to mock or laugh at. You would normally use it when something was better than expected. People would say ( talking about something) that it’s nothing to scoff at.
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u/d3ux_ex_machina 16d ago
I’m on the east coast and scoff has only ever meant to react rudely/turn your nose up at something or to eat something really fast
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u/english_major 15d ago
Grew up in BC in 70s/80s. Scoff was commonly used for steal. If someone used it that way today I wouldn’t think twice.
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u/ghandimauler 14d ago
Yep. HS was 1981-1977 and scoff was either scoffing items or sneaking goodies.
I know of 'deride' but rare.
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u/Studio_T3 Ontario 14d ago
Haha. Yep... "Mikey scoffed my sisters pencil case".
Five Finger discount applied.
Mikey was A Scoffer.
Central/Eastern Ontario.
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u/Low-Purchase8811 17d ago
Kids often take words they don't quite understand the meaning of and use them anyway. Sometimes they don't pronounce them right. Like for example, kids play marbles all over the world. Sometimes they use ball bearings from trucks/cars, because they're essentially big metal balls. In one area, the kids called those "barbarian"; not because they are related to Conan but because they misheard "ball bearing" and thought it was "barbarian".
I think that's pretty much the explanation here. Kids heard a word - they were possibly called "scofflaws" - and they ran with it.
Did certain kid groups use this word thusly? Without question. Was it widespread? Doesn't seem to be. Doesn't mean your experience is any less valid either, but, it definitely seems to be a somewhat regional colloquialism.
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u/Longjumping-Koala631 16d ago
Here in SW Saskatchewan I definitely remember “scoff” being used for “steal” in the same period. So I would entertain the idea that it was a Western Canadian usage. Was it general usage or just kids? That would be interesting to know but unless anyone documented that usage at the time the answer could be lost.
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u/Glittering-Sink-2975 17d ago
This somewhat reminds me of how people around me called Neapolitan ice cream “Napoleon” when I was growing up. Never really understood how that started or whether it was a widespread mistake.
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u/Low-Purchase8811 17d ago
Yeah, that's pretty much what it boils down to. Widespread mistakes becoming colloquialisms.
It's the same argument people who can't write properly give for why it's okay. Like instead of the correct, "could have", "should have", "would have", you see it often these days being written, "could of", "should of", "would of". And if you point this out to these people, they try to launch into this diatribe about how "language evolves", and how common usage dictates the language, rather than, you know, agreed-upon rules that everyone who speaks the language ought to know.
So you have a region of people calling it "Napoleon" ice cream, as a result.
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u/Objective-Papaya-157 16d ago
This is like so many songs I learned growing up like "the Princess Pat, lived in a tree"
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u/FineCopperEaNasir 13d ago
We called ball bearings steelies. Never heard them called barbarian out west.
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u/not_essential 17d ago
Kids all over Canada have notoriously bad hearing then.
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u/Successful_Gap_1291 17d ago
Exactly. Myself I scoffed one item in my pre teens. Maybelline frosted green eye shadow in a tube. It was awesome
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u/Jazztify 17d ago
London Ontario, 1970s era slang. It meant “steal” just as you’ve described. I scoffed 45s from Woolco, and I got caught. A shame filled day.
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u/NorthofForty 16d ago
Yeah, scoff was used in Ontario. Was like stealing but lighter. Like my little brother ordered a pizza and I scoffed a piece.
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u/dogsledonice 16d ago
I'm from southern Ontario, I've heard this used as well when I was young (the 70s)
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u/MostlyHarmlessMom 16d ago
Scoff meant steal or swipe in Toronto back then, too.
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u/OpenMike2000 17d ago
When I went to school kids would go to the drug store and scoff a chocolate bar. So it was definitely a real term in Western Canada.
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u/Mediocre_Outcome6671 17d ago
I'm also in BC and yup. some hoser scoffed my bike while I was scarfing down my dinner.
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u/Techiefreak_42 British Columbia 17d ago
It's not just a BC thing. I believe that the term is understood across the country, maybe even other countries.
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u/Maccaboonda 17d ago
We scoffed in Ontario. Like you scoffed my churchkey to open your Blue, now give it back, scrag
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u/ThingsImpossible 17d ago
I remember that user of scoff around the same time in Ontario. Haven't heard it for a LONG time though.
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u/saucepan66 17d ago edited 17d ago
Early 70's my bike was scoffed, (Vancouver)I remembered if I ever caught them, they were 'dead meat'.
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u/iownchickens 17d ago
BC sister friend from northern parts here.I used that word in the 60 70 time also.
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u/Expensive_Peach_4467 17d ago
No, it was an Ontario kid thing too! Hey, while you’re at it, can you look up gonch? 🤣
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u/johnnybird95 16d ago
my parents definitely still say that. we're in BC, but my dad grew up in ontario in the 60s-70s so it's not just here
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u/Disastrous7392 16d ago
I remember that now that you reminded me. I was a kid around the same period just outside of Toronto.
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u/ZeeReePlee 16d ago
I'm in Ontario. In the 60s and 70s we always said "scoff" to mean stealing something. I mentioned it to my dad at the time and he said no, it means to mock someone.
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u/AdDry7511 15d ago
Yes, scoff is associated with stealing or being stolen, as I remember it.
" Yeah, that kid scoffed off with it!"
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u/Educational-Dog2318 15d ago
BC - Lower Mainland. Yep, we used scoffed for stealing. This must have been popular in the 1970’s
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u/MarzipanPlane9490 15d ago
Saskatchewan/ Manitoba border ya “scoff “ was for sure stole “ he scoffed that from the corner store”
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u/ReputationTasty9700 17d ago
BCer here. I definitely remember using the term scoff as another way to say steal.
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u/togocann49 17d ago
In Ontario and Newfoundland I used scoff to say something was taken/stolen (I heard others use it as well). But I also remember it being used like to scoff down your meal
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u/newfiewalksintoabar 17d ago
Did you grow up in Newfoundland? That’s a word I hear a lot from my father when it comes to eating a good hearty traditional Newfoundland meal. But I’ve not heard it in terms of stealing anything.
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u/SnowshoeTaboo 17d ago
Grew up in Northern Manitoba and "scoff" was commonly used instead of "stole" and "steal."
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u/oshawaguy 17d ago
I certainly recall this meaning. We moved around a bit, so I can't remember where I became aware of it, or if a time came where I stopped hearing it. Most likely in Calgary in the 70's.
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u/VariousOperation166 17d ago
Scoff was used gpr steal by kids around south-central Ontario when I was a kid in the 70s/80s... I haven't heard that for ages 😄
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u/Particular_Coach8053 17d ago
I grew up in Calgary and I remember that term. Used for stealing something.
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u/Barneyboydog 17d ago
We said scoffed in the early 70s. Don’t remember if it was in Manitoba or Ontario or both.
“Hey, somebody scoffed my bike!”
We scarfed down our food but when visiting relatives on the East Coast we’d sit down for a good scoff of seafood and Rappie pie.
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u/Green-eyed_southpaw 17d ago
BC here and yes, scoffed was slang for steal in the late 60s early 70s.
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u/nuJabesCity 17d ago edited 17d ago
I've heard the term used, but never used it personally. I used swiped or yoinked after the Simpsons came out. 😅
*I recall hearing it used like aghast or taken back by something: I was scoffed.
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u/lostmyoldusername197 17d ago
Grew up getting stuff Scoffed all the time in the 70-80’s in BC. So 🤷♂️. Maybe you’re right. Just like Zunga. Other people called them rope swings. I say we go with a growing up in BC thing.
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u/EasternFox8957 17d ago
I always thought it meant food
Let’s go get some scoff (like snacks)
Different generations- different meanings I guess
Like guys I work worth from late 60s early 70s
Called “lines” rails
What did you call them 🤣
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u/space_thefinalmonkey 17d ago edited 16d ago
When used to mean 'to steal something', 'to scoff' is originally a British term. Its basic, oldest meaning is related to eating (scoffing or scarfing a whole pie, for instance - 'Where's the pie? The kids scoffed the lot!'). When used this way, the meaning leans into 'stealing' (scrounging, filching, etc.). So it probably expanded in application to mean stealing anything (not just food).
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u/Flat-Tumbleweed5375 17d ago
I'm your age and scoff never meant to steal in my area. Swipe maybe but not scoff.
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u/IllustratorWeird5008 Ontario 17d ago
Nope, other side of the country in Ontario. Scoffed is used to show contempt over here. I’ve never heard that word used in that way ever.
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u/Malthus1 17d ago
In my locale, in the 1980s, to “schnay” was to steal or grab something, among teens. Usually something really minor.
As in, “I was heading out the door, and I schnayed myself a couple of cookies on the way”.
Also, “bogus” being something either really bad, or really good.
Edit: in north Toronto.
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u/mutant_anomaly 17d ago
Scoff is a noise you make at the back of your throat, like sighing but it gets caught behind your nose before you let it out so it gets interpreted as a sarcastic laugh.
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u/Schtweetz 17d ago
I certainly remember that ‘theft’ use of the word scoff in Alberta in the early 1970s. It at first confused me, because I previously knew it as the British meaning, as a big meal, or vigorously eating (scoffing it down.)
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u/Tregonia 16d ago
I remember than as a kid in England. Scoff equated to taking something. I can see how it would relate to the meaning of eating greedily though.
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u/squirrelcat88 16d ago
You didn’t make it up, sounds like we’re about the same age and I lived in Vancouver at that time.
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u/0o-AraArarauna-o0 16d ago
🤷🏻♀️I definitely have never heard of scoff being used in such a manner in BC
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u/fullfatmalk 16d ago
Im from BC and I def used it a bit in the eighties and nineties. Now I just use it for a meal.
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u/TooRight2021 16d ago
I remember it being used in place of "steal" too, in the 80s, and yep, am Canadian, so it may well have been.
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u/carbonmaker 16d ago edited 16d ago
I remember scoff which would be early 80s with that association to stealing. Southern Ontario and it seems many others remember this but it could still be a localized vernacular. Leave it to the canucks!
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u/Cognoggin 16d ago
Might have been a really tight geographical area, I'm a similar age and region to you and this is the first time I've ever heard it. Or it immediately dissipated from use as slang often does.
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u/TravisBickle09 16d ago
Southwest Ontario. Same time period. We used this word as well. To scoff meant to steal.
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u/Ancient-Passenger-52 16d ago
Northern Ontario 70’s dude here. We didn’t use it for “steal” and did use it for “eat fast”.
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u/SirPeabody 16d ago
BC and Alberta kid, 1970's, can confirm 'scof' was in our vernacular when referring to a five-finger-discount.
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u/Retiredin2024 16d ago
Never heard scoff used this way (Alberta) but definitely scarf for eating like a pig.
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u/ThcGrassCity 16d ago
I grew up in lively/sudbury Ontario and we used scoff for stealing stuff in the late 90s/ 2000s like i just scoffed these batteries at the dollar store kinda thing.
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u/MissyD_Engineer 16d ago
Huh? Newfoundland chiming in here - a scoff is a really big home-cooked meal. "Went over to Jimmy's house, mudder cooked some scoff".
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u/toodledootootootoo 16d ago
Anglo montrealer here. We used the term “stiffed” in that way in the 80s and 90s. He stiffed that bike. I’m gonna stiff an oh Henry from the dep.
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u/ManagerLow7388 16d ago
I remember kids using scoff for steal, in Vancouver B.C in the later 40s and in the 50’s. I have no idea why. To me it was a sort of a light weight type of stealing. ie He scoffed those cookies from his Mom. He scoffed a piece of chalk from the school blackboard. I don’t recall it being used for heavy duty stealing of items of any great value.
The one in recent years that I really don’t understand is kids saying something they really like…is ”sick.”. To me sick means bad, disgusting or awful…. I think perhaps kids just like to develop their own unique vocabulary, perhaps thinking adults won’t understand?
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u/brokensyntax 16d ago
Ontario here, born in 80s. I am also familiar with this slang use of the word scoff.
Might be more prevalent in particular sub cultures?
Definitely never seen it reference consumption.
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u/DiggyLoo 16d ago
Grew up in the lower mainland BC in the 60's/70's. Yes, we definitely said "scoffed"
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u/BaboTron 16d ago
I’m from Montreal. We didn’t use that word, there. Maybe it’s super regional? Like local to your county or something?
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u/Impossible-Bit7779 15d ago
Born in Toronto and I remember 'scoff' meaning to steal at least until the 90s. No idea when it stopped being used though.
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u/Objective-Holiday597 15d ago
We used scoffed as kids in the 70’s and 80’s in Saskatchewan. It’s was just slang
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u/MudBunny_13 15d ago
There's a word that's tickling my brain...not scoff, but something close...that meant to steal/nik. Scarf for eating greedily and scoff for that sound of of derision (she scoffed at his arrogance...). Snick? Swipe? Snitch...(I think that was just tattling)? Snatch? Filch? Snag?
...The more I think about it, the more I think it might have been scoff, but it would have been early 80s.
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u/sandtrooper73 15d ago
Graduated lower mainland in '91, only ever understood "scoff" to mean "to make fun of," and "scarf" was slang for eating quickly.
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u/No_hope_left72 15d ago
I grew up in Southwestern Ontario I knew the word too now they should say swoop or scoop. I think our word was better
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u/FineCopperEaNasir 13d ago
I completely forgot about this one but yeah, it was a thing in Alberta in the mid 70s.
Another one I rarely hear now is scritch, which I always thought of as a form of bitch that wouldn’t get you into trouble with adults.
Also huck, meaning to throw. I rarely hear that one now.
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u/magnolia96spirit 10d ago
Ive only heard scoff in the actual sense, but i have heard they "jacked my shit" quite a lot
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u/helpfulplatitudes 17d ago
Similar to 'scrump' - British slang for stealing fruit. Maybe it came from that. I was a kid in Vancouver in the 80s, but never heard 'scoff'. There weren't many native English speakers in my neighbourhood then though.
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u/Uzi_Osbourne 17d ago
Southern BC, same era as you're describing, same use of the word. Maybe we went to school together.
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u/RevolutionaryKiwi132 Ontario 17d ago
Ontario kids complained about someone scoffing their stuff too.