stooshie

n. a fight; a fuss, commotion, or to-do. Subjects: Scots, Scotland

Etymological Note: According to the Dictionary of the Scots Language, under the spelling stashie this term dates to at least as early as 1824.

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Citations: 1988 Maev Kennedy Guardian (U.K.) (Aug. 15) “Barbara Cartland’s ‘pink monstrosity’ enrages Scots”: There seems to have been a little bit of a stooshie (a mild altercation, to those South of the Border) on the subject of Barbara Cartland. 1993 Paul Harris, Diana Wildman Daily Mail (London, England) (Feb. 4) “Anne’s Middle Class Move”: I don’t think people are getting terribly excited about it. Where I come from in Scotland they would say there hasn’t been a great stooshy. 1997 Duncan McLean Bunker Man (May 1) p. 98: Frizzell panicked, lashed out, kicked at the boy’s shin. Next thing he kens the boy’s on the floor screaming, and the police are interviewing him on an assault charge.…The union had to fight like billy-oh on that one.…It was a right stooshie. In the papers and everything. 2005 Adrian Turpin Financial Times (U.K.) (July 1) “On dangerous ground”: Another great Scottish word is stooshie, meaning fight. By contesting the received wisdom of the Clearances, Fry has created an almighty stooshie.

Posted 3 Jan 06 | Permalink | Tell a Friend