Photo credit: smarta.com
My continuous eavesdropping has returned some impressive results this week. This is the word I have heard before, but I thought it would be a nice addition to the blog. I heard it in the following conversation:
– Come to the party on Saturday, it will be great!
– I’d love to, but I can’t, I’m so skint.
– Don’t worry, it’s free!
‘Skint’, quite simply, means not having much money or, rather, no money at all.
Here are a few more examples:
– Musicians, meanwhile, are often skint and desperate for anything that will earn them cash and/or give them some exposure to help prolong ever shortening careers (The Guardian).
– Retailers, small businesses, large corporations, city councils and the exchequer are all skint. They desperately need goods moving from shelves, shops restocking, banks lending against renewed cash flow, employment growing and taxes being paid (The Guardian).
– It’s not unheard of for the otherwise relatively wealthy to plead “I’m skint” to avoid that social engagement we just want to swerve. In fact, it is almost socially required for us to plead a degree of poverty so as not to appear gloatingly flush (BBC).
Confessions of the Linguistic Spy 