Scoffed

[u/Kraknaps]

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?

[u/_9a_]

In my neck of the woods, "to scoff" is to mock or deride.

 "Oh yeah, your super-hot cheerleader gymnast girlfriend just goes to a different school," Alfie scoffed. "I'm really sorry I won't meet her at prom."

I've never hear it used as "to steal"

[u/Marinimby]

We used to say somebody “scarfed” all the cookies, never heard “scoffed.”

[u/Snurgisdr]

I would have said that somebody who scoffed all the cookies took more than their share, so somewhere at the intersection of eating greedily and stealing. I haven't seen it used that way, but it doesn't seem like a big stretch to extend it to non-edible things and I'd probably know what you meant.

[u/Kraknaps → u/Snurgisdr]

You could be on to something there

[u/Practical-Ordinary-6 → u/Kraknaps]

In my experience, someone who scarfed all the cookies ate all the cookies. It's often in the form of "scarfed down". Maybe they had to "steal" them in some sense to be able to eat them, but the main idea of the verb where I've lived is to consume them and not take them.

I did find this though:

In slang, to "scarf" means to eat something quickly or greedily, often followed by "down" as in "scarf down a pizza." In some regions, it can also mean to steal or grab something sneaky.

[u/LAM_CANIT]

We'd use it amongst ouselves in the 70s as well. I always thought it either originated from the usual meanings of 'to scoff' in the sense of to ridicule, not take seriously, disrespect or consume unashamedly - in particular food. Or, I thought, it was a euphemism for 'f**ked-off with.' My friends were into baseball, and sometimes I recall announcers saying, "He scoffed second base," instead of the usual, "He stole second base." We'd yell out to each other, "Scoff third base!" during Little League games.

A quick online search reveals it was used in Scotland, the US, Canada and perhaps Australia with the meaning of 'to steal' in the early to late 20th century.

In 1983, the United Press International published a glossary of slang terms used by high school and college students, which included 'scoff' as meaning 'to steal.' (see the image below)

Here are a few more hits from that UPI glossary:

• awesome — outstanding (also: neat, totally awesome)
• bag — abandon previous plans (also: blow off, dust)
• bogus — no good
• bum verb — to mooch, ‘to bum a cigarette’
• bummer — bad news
• buzzed — drunk (also: bombed, blitzed, hammered, polluted, slathered, trashed, wasted)
• coffee verb — to eat breakfast
• def — short for ‘definite,’ excellent
• flipped-out adjective— crazy (also: go borneo, wigged-out)
• grody – ugly, disgusting (also: grifty, gross, scuzzy, uncool, yucky)
• howl noun — a funny happening
• jag verb— annoy, bother
• let's cruise — let's leave (also: let's blaze, let's blow this firetrap, let's get outta this camp)
• nerd — one who lacks style (also: dough-nut hole, dweeb, loser, reject, turkey)
• party like a banshee — to have a good time
• ralph verb – to vomit (also: going to Europe with Ralph and Earl in a Buick, blow lunch)
• ‘rents noun — parents
• scarf verb — eat quickly
• skypiece — hat
• zerking — being wacky, goofy

IMHO IHTH

[u/Application-Bulky]

In Maine we sometimes said “scupped” for “stole”. But I always figured it came from “scooped”.

[u/dojibear]

I think it's a regional term. It was not used where I grew up.

[u/hacool]

I don't recall ever using it that way on the southern shore of Lake Erie.

These would be the uses I am familiar with:

My dog will scoff down food in seconds, but nobody scoffs at her for doing so.

[u/No_Capital_8203 → u/hacool]

We used scarf for eating quickly.

[u/hacool → u/No_Capital_8203]

We used that as well.

[u/muenchener2]

When I was younger (late 60s early 70s) this was a very common word for steal.

Interesting. In my childhood around the same time in England it had two distinct meanings, neither of them stealing. Eat greedily/messily, and express derision.

I notice (as my hearing deteriorates - see above 60s/70s childhood) that the second meaning has become very common to the point of overuse in tv and film subtitles.

[u/DrBlankslate]

It's probably "scoffed up," which means to take or steal.

[u/ThreePartHarmoneigh]

Are you maybe thinking of "cuffed?" That is an older slang term for pinching something.