Scartle is an old Scots word meaning to scrape together little bits of things, like picking the coins and crumbs out of a car seat. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Scartle”
Scartle
Myrtle
You’re doing a word game, right?
No, I was just I was sharing a word with you.
I was having a word with you.
I’ll just put that in my pocket.
You can call us with questions.
No, did you have more to say about that?
I did. The word scartle is one of my new favorites.
Is this what a crab does on the sand when it’s too hot?
Interesting.
Sort of scartling, a lot like scuttling.
I don’t know.
Yeah, something like that.
I don’t know.
Yeah.
It’s an old Scots word that means to scrape together what little bit of money you have.
Okay.
You know, I think of scartling to go to the laundromat back in the day.
The coins that fell into the couch cushions, that sort of thing.
Right, right.
And you carry them in your hand.
And it goes back to an old word that’s related to scratch.
And it was formed by metathesis, flipping the letters.
Scartle.
The consonant’s switching around there.
Yeah.
Scartle.
Yeah, scartle the bits of change that end up between the two seats in the car,
And the bits of change that are in the zip pocket of your backpack.
Yeah, yeah.
You’ve scartled all that, and you’re going to go to the vending machine or something.
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