Skehdoolee

Hi, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, I’m Kathy. I’m calling from Marshfield, Wisconsin.

Hi, Kathy. Welcome.

Thank you.

What would you like to talk with us about?

Well, my father and his fellow bus drivers in the 1950s and 60s in Racine, Wisconsin, had a very interesting way of pronouncing the word S-C-H-E-D-U-L-E. And I’m just wondering if that was perhaps their own local version of the pronunciation or whether it has some history behind it.

What did they say?

Skidooly.

Skidooly?

Skidooly?

Mm—

Did they say this in an official way or was it jocular fashion or was there some kind of tone to it?

It’s how they referred to their routes, maintaining, keeping to their skidooly.

Keeping to their skidooly.

And so were they school bus drivers or were they regular bus drivers?

City bus drivers.

City bus drivers.

Okay.

And did you ever talk to him about it?

Did you ever say, hey, you’re putting the emphasis on the wrong syllable?

No, but my father always had a great love for words, and he was a crossword puzzle fiend. And he just had this wonderful connection with words. And I don’t know if this was his idea or whether, because I heard all of the bus drivers using it.

-huh, so it caught on.

And when they’re using it, they would just say it in ordinary English without a wink or a nudge, without a giggle or a laugh, without any kind of remarking upon it at all. They would just say, I’m going to adjust my skidooly this week so I can have some time to go off to the lake.

Correct.

Did you have the impression that it was maybe an intentional corruption of scheduling?

Well, I knew it referred to their schedule, and I know that the British pronunciation is schedule. Although the younger generation is starting to pronounce it like the Americans. But not like the Americans in Racine, Wisconsin.

Correct.

I have never heard that, Kathy. I really have never heard anyone say skidooly, and I can only assume that it was some kind of big group joke.

Do you think that’s the case?

It’s possible.

It’s possible.

Were they a lively bunch?

Yeah, were they both jokers?

They were an extremely lively bunch. Members of the Moose Lodge of the Order of the Beer or what have you?

Yeah, so maybe they were just goofing.

I’ve never heard skidooly.

I like it.

Why not?

It’s got an E on the end, right?

Yeah.

And now my father was of German heritage, so that may have, and many of the bus drivers were as well, so that may have some effect on it as well.

That’s possible.

German.

I don’t know the German word for schedule. I wonder if there are any of our listeners in Wisconsin who have heard this from, because the show is broadcast all across Wisconsin. I wonder if anyone else can pop us an email and let us know if they’ve heard this pronunciation, even from non-bus drivers, a skidooly as a way of saying schedule.

That’s really interesting to me.

I like it.

Give us a ring, 1-877-929-9673, or say so in email to words@waywordradio.org.

Kathy, thank you so much for your call. If we find anything out, we’ll be sure to let you know.

All right. Thank you.

All right. Take care. Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.