2 definitions by Ryan Johnson
Etymologically rooted in the German "Schraschattleschraum", meaning "release of creeping anxiety through subtle trappings of mirth, and maybe some sauerkraut" linguists have struggled to trace the origins of this popular urban term.
In his seminal text 'Syntactic Structures', linguist Noam Chomsky asserts that "scray" entered the english language around 1953. This was the dawn of the era in which mass communications technology began to difuse previously disparate elements into increasingly oblique and monastic forms. Consequently, ensuing developments of verbally expressed culture exhibited markedly parochial leanings. Chomsky feels such etymological dynamism aided the spreading of terms such as "scray" and "scallywop" across previously unscalable spatial and temporal borders.
However, famed pimp Iceberg Slim argues that "scray" in its current context was in fact introduced by "his own bad self," and that Chomsky "and his honky MIT people" are merely "suckas".
In his seminal text 'Syntactic Structures', linguist Noam Chomsky asserts that "scray" entered the english language around 1953. This was the dawn of the era in which mass communications technology began to difuse previously disparate elements into increasingly oblique and monastic forms. Consequently, ensuing developments of verbally expressed culture exhibited markedly parochial leanings. Chomsky feels such etymological dynamism aided the spreading of terms such as "scray" and "scallywop" across previously unscalable spatial and temporal borders.
However, famed pimp Iceberg Slim argues that "scray" in its current context was in fact introduced by "his own bad self," and that Chomsky "and his honky MIT people" are merely "suckas".
by Ryan Johnson March 10, 2005
by Ryan Johnson January 8, 2005