1. (verb) The act of stumbling over an invisible bump in the floor.
2. (noun) The sound one makes when skumping. Usually sounds like a simian grunt.
3. (proper verb) A highly
exaggerated form of stumbling performed by a Scape (or Skape). *Perform* is the operative word here. An ordinary scump is more than a regular trip or bump anyway. When done by a Scape, Scumping (note the capitalization) involves wild gestures, blood-curdling shrieks of terror and pain. It is always followed by imaginary injuries and paranoid accusations.
While a normal scump could be the result of tripping over a previously-unseen bump, a Scump is always done for attention and never involves any
physical contact, except whatever the Scape ends up falling into (a barrel, a shelf, a table, etc). A Scump has no discernible cause, though the Scape usually tries to blame them on a roadblock of some sort which was purposely left in its way. If ignored, a Scump will be forgotten, though it might resurface in future tales.
Usual suspect causes of a Scump include tables, barrels
on the other side of the room, cracks in the floor, and errant dust particles.
1. "Hey, Zeke, what
happened?"
"I was headed to the
conference room, and suddenly I tripped on a scump."
2. (Walking
across the hall)
"Hey, Clem! How're you - ooffff! Scump!"
3. "Someone must have put that table in my way on purpose, because I never saw it before and I fell and..."
"Oh, great. The Scape just Scumped again."
