Skimmington

I occasionally go to a pub called the Skimmington Castle, and by coincidence Oxford Dictionaries' Word of the Day today was skimmington. The word skimmington has several different spellings, depending on region, including skimelton, skimitin, skiverton and others, according to Joseph Wright's English Dialect Dictionary. The basic definition in this dictionary is "a ceremony practised on unpopular persons", and then the dictionary goes on to give several examples. A skimmington usually takes the form of a procession through the village, where effigies of the people being censured or ridiculed are carried. The procession is accompanied by much banging of pans and kettles and other loud, discordant noise. The ceremony ends in the burning of the effigies.

 

As for why these people were 'unpopular', usually it related to unfaithful spouses or, as one of the citations in the OED puts it, "henpecked husbands and shrewish wives". The origins of the word skimmington are unclear, but the word is believed to be related to a skimming ladle, which the aforementioned 'shrewish wives' used to beat their husbands.

Comments

[missjane]

That's interesting... I heard late last year about a 'nominy', a form of poem used when 'riding the stang', which is the same ritual.

http://sixdegreesofsirthomas.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/nominy.html

[Picky]

And is that what you get up to in the pub?

[Virtual Linguist]

Thanks to both. Yes, riding the stang was also mentioned in the English Dialect Dictionary - and I mentioned it in this old post: http://virtuallinguist.typepad.com/the_virtual_linguist/2010/10/dialect-words-in-the-oed.html .

I'm afraid I keep forgetting to take my skimming ladle to the pub, Picky. I'll have to try and remember it next time!

[John]

I'm surprised the expression hasn't found it's way to the practise of thinning out one's Facebook "Friends", removing those with whom one has had no interaction for an extended period.

I have a friend who periodically goes through that process, having a lot of fun with the rest of us around criteria for removal, etc. I'm going to forward this link to hm.

As always, a very interesting post, Susan. Thanks.

[Virtual Linguist]

Thanks, John. Yes, it does sound the equivalent of the Facebook 'defriending' or 'unfriending' process.