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I used quick, let's scarper before the boss comes back to inject some levity into a recent meeting, but got only blank stares for my trouble. When asked to explain scarper to my American chums, all I could think of was you know, as in "scarper lads, it's the filth", i.e. run away quickly before the police catch you, but run away quickly really doesn't convey the essence of this truly useful word. Is there a good American English equivalent?

Note: it is difficult to convey the exact context. Imagine high school kids (not the good ones) deciding to try and evade the deans, or maybe a bunch of dropouts or low-level criminals about to get caught breaking in.

ukayer
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  • Is scarper totally unknown in the US? – Orbling Jan 23 '11 at 11:44
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    @Orbling: As an American, I haven't heard that word before in my life (that I can remember). – Kosmonaut Jan 23 '11 at 16:38
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    I had never heard of this word either. Interestingly, Merriam-Webster define it without any "chiefly British" tag, but it appears not at all in either COCA or COHA. – nohat Jan 23 '11 at 17:23
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    FYI: The term is known and (infrequently) used in Australia, but we also get a lot of English imports on TV. It certainly sounds like something that would show up on 'The Sweeney'. – dave Jan 23 '11 at 17:43
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    @Kosmonaut @nohat @dave: All the etymology points at it being of London origin, either via Italian influence or Cockney rhyming slang with "Scapa flow". Probably why, as a Londoner, it is totally normal to me. It is particularly used in reference to getting away from the police, hence @ukayer's example 'scarper lads, it's the filth' (filth being a slang term for the police). – Orbling Jan 23 '11 at 18:53
  • I'd agree with Scapa Flow, Cockney rhyming slang for "Go" – smirkingman Jan 24 '11 at 09:14
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    I find it amusing that your usage example, 'scarper lads, it's the filth', contains only 2 words commonly used in AmEng. Lads is will understood, of course, but not used, while I've never heard of scarper at all or filth as a term for the police. – Dusty Jan 26 '11 at 17:10
  • I added a bounty to help keep this discussion going. I think the most plausible answers to date are book and fly, but I'm not convinced that either one is the most apt translation out there. – ukayer Feb 13 '11 at 07:17
  • I think it is necessary to make clear which context you are considering. Asking for a good substitute is rather subjective. Would you accept run away (which is the meaning I find on the NOAD) as substitute of scarper? – apaderno Feb 13 '11 at 10:03
  • The built in dictionary in OS X marks it as Brit. informal. – Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen Feb 13 '11 at 10:21
  • @kiamlaluno - I added a note on context – ukayer Feb 13 '11 at 18:25
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    Of all the suggestions, "bail" and "split" seem the most appropriate for the context. All the other ones seem hopelessly dated or totally out of character. – horatio Feb 15 '11 at 15:26
  • Well we came up with these: Scram, book, absquatulate, skedaddle, vamoose, split, jet, scamper, flee, beat it, dodge, get out of here, run, run for it, cheese it, amscray, dip, bounce, roll, fly, leg it, blow this joint, blow, make like the wind, get outta here, skip town, hustle, bug out, ditch, dipset, and I'm going to pick "bounce" as the answer. Bounce may not be used by everyone, but I think when the those folks use it in this context it feels like the most appropriate translation for scarper. Thanks for all the suggestions. – ukayer Feb 17 '11 at 14:37
  • The term "scatter" is used in the US, in much the same sense. – Hot Licks Dec 09 '20 at 01:30

22 Answers22

23

'Scram!' or the old Bugs Bunny, Pig Latin version, 'Am-scray!'

  • @Elendi - scram also seems too twee. Imagine a bunch of drunken louts coming out of a pub at 11PM, they might use scarper but I doubt they would use scram. – ukayer Jan 23 '11 at 17:26
  • Both “scram” and “vamoose” seeme pretty apt to me (orig. UK, now lived for 6 years in US/Canada). Yes, in some contexts and tones of voice they can be a bit camp — but so can “scarper”! I can certainly imagine an old codger shaking his fist at the kids playing on his lawn and shouting “Oy! Scram!” in complete seriousness. – PLL Jan 23 '11 at 18:14
  • @ukayer I think scram would work in the context you presented. Quick, let's scram before the boss comes back. – ghoppe Jan 26 '11 at 17:13
  • @ghoppe yes it works, but in British English there is definitely a difference between scarper and scram – ukayer Jan 28 '11 at 05:44
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    @ukayer, I don't think scram has any twee connotation in American English. It's certainly the first word that came to my mind for substituting into "Quick, let's ___ before the boss comes back." – Marthaª Feb 13 '11 at 19:02
  • "Scram" and "vamoose" both have an imperative quality -- you, get lost! -- that I think "scarper" lacks. "Scarper" has sort of an "abscond" vibe to it. – Michael Lorton Feb 16 '11 at 01:52
11

I think book comes closest, both in meaning and degree of colloquialness, as in: "Look, John's coming in. I owe him money, so I gotta book. See you later."

Robusto
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  • @Robusto: How widespread is that term, I've heard it a number of times, but do not know if it is specific to a region? – Orbling Jan 23 '11 at 11:43
  • @Orbling: It's of relatively recent coinage. I hear it among young(ish) people in the U.S. all the time. – Robusto Jan 23 '11 at 13:47
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    @Orbling: It's pretty common, especially in the phrase "book it", which has a sense rather like "to hurry on foot", as in "I gotta book it to class" or "I saw some dude just booking it down the road earlier". The sense of "get out of here" isn't quite as common, but I think "I gotta book" would be understood as short for "I gotta book it outta here". – Jon Purdy Jan 23 '11 at 15:45
  • @Robusto: +1 for a promising answer – ukayer Jan 23 '11 at 17:28
  • This seems interesting! Looking around, I get the impression that among people who use this phrase, it might be a pretty good equivalent; but it’s not clear to me either how widely it’s used/understood (I don’t remember having come across it in 5 years in Pittsburgh). – PLL Jan 23 '11 at 18:17
  • It's also used as an imperative. "I think it's the Feds. Book it!" – oosterwal Feb 14 '11 at 06:31
  • @Robusto my teenage daughter now seems to be using "book it!" almost daily and it certainly feels the same as "scarper!" – ukayer Oct 28 '15 at 21:14
10

Perhaps absquatulate is the word you are looking for, although that might be getting on a bit now. You might also try skedaddle, which appears to be aging rather better.

Brian Hooper
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  • +1 for the word absquatulate, but I would have got at least as many blank stares. Skedaddle seems too twee. – ukayer Jan 23 '11 at 08:18
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    Absquatulate? Really? – rxmnnxfpvg Jan 23 '11 at 09:14
  • @Jasie, yes, really. See here... http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Absquatulate – Brian Hooper Jan 23 '11 at 09:19
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    i dnno about absquatulate... to me it's a facetious made-up-word to sound like fake-latin. it's kind of being overly mellifluous for no reason. compare: 'scarper, it's the filth!' intending a sense of hurrying and such, to 'by golly lads, it's the police! let us absquatulate before they chance upon us!' – Claudiu Feb 15 '11 at 15:23
7

I hear "split" a lot but it's more correct to use when you are parting company. It wouldn't be as common when the entire group is leaving to move elsewhere (as a group).

Let's split before the cops find us.

I also hear "jet" particularly when time is pressing.

I hate to interrupt, but I gotta jet...
We gotta jet if we want to make the 10:15 show...

Mark Peters
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  • +1 for “split”. Worth showing that it can also be used for one person leaving a group, not just the whole group all parting ways: “Hey guys, it’s been fun but I gotta split…” – PLL Feb 14 '11 at 03:12
  • "Split" is fine if you're departing for 1967. I don't think it's been used non-ironically since "21 Jump Street" was canceled. – Michael Lorton Feb 16 '11 at 01:53
6

Scamper? Flee? ... Could be synonyms to "Scarper" in general...

JFW
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6

Pretty sure the American for scarper is skedaddle. Amscray, the Pig Latin for scram, is also particularly idiomatically appropriate to your particular case.

chaos
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6

I don't know how American it is, but "vamoose" has a few hits in COCA.

Peter Taylor
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  • vamoose seems a bit 'twee' by comparison, though maybe just because it rhymes with caboose:-) – ukayer Jan 23 '11 at 08:09
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    I don't think of "vamoose" as being twee, though I do not hear it often. I've always assumed (but never checked) that it is a conscious mis-pronunciation of "vamos" from Spanish. – Tom Hughes Feb 13 '11 at 22:45
5

Let's beat it, just beat it...

mplungjan
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5

Depending on the age and ethnicity of your co-workers, "bounce" may work quite well in this context.

The urban dictionary's most popular definition (warning: potentially offensive link) lists "bounce" as:

v. to exit a location/situation.

I think it has a similar connotation to "scarper" to some groups in the US, although not all groups use this term.

Community
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Zoot
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3

Several options:

Let's get out of here before the boss comes back

Simple, easy to understand, and if you want to make it more informal, you can just add an intensifier such as "the hell" or some other flavor of the same.

Let's dodge before the boss comes back

Or

Let's get the .... out of Dodge before the boss comes back

Sylverdrag
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3

I can't believe no one's tossed "run" or "run for it" out yet. That's the word we used in my high school, not even a full year ago, when we joked about all running out of the classroom when the teacher stepped out for a minute, which I think is something like what you're talking talking about. :)

"Quick! (Let's )run for it before she gets back!" or just "Quick! Run! Before she gets back!" is what I'd say.

.....Although I have to admit "Lock the door!" was more common. ;)

kitukwfyer
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2

I don't know how popular these are, but they are all American words meaning exactly what you're talking about (if they're not known it's probably because they're mostly used by high school kids running from the cops).

Dip (ie: Let's dip from the cops! They dipped out from the corner store.), Bounce (same thing), and Roll (more casual)

Peter Cameron
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2

Cheese it! The police!

or

I saw them coming up the street so I broke.

WAF
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1

Maybe it's regional and obscure, but in that context I might use fly.

Quick, let's fly before the boss comes back.

Dang, I'm late. Gotta fly.

ghoppe
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1

I would have thought "scarper" was a reasonably well known word.

Apparently the original meaning derives from cockney rhyming slang: To "Scarpa flow" meaning to "go".

How about some of these:

"Leg it" "Make yourself scarce" "Vamoose" "Get out of here" "Blow this joint"

Or if your audience has seen Snatch (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0208092/) you might like to say:

"Avi, pull your socks up!"

Tom Ravenscroft
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1

Although personally a fan of "skedaddle," another common phrase for this is "bug out."

Tom Hughes
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1

We'd use "jet", "ditch", "run", or "bounce" really depending on the day. In the context of a boss, I'd probably go with "jet" or "ditch".

"Let's ditch the meeting before the boss shows up..."

Spyplane
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1

Beat it and scram are my top picks from the answers above. Here are my two cents:

Make a run for it

Let's blow before the cops get here. (as in blow like the wind)

Make like the wind

Let's get outta here.

Skip town before the cops get here.

Let's hustle before they find us. (very 70s)

Sky Red
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0

Personally, I've never heard "scarper". However, in (especially) American English, "scamper" is quite common, and would be the word I would use.

What is the origin of "scarper"?

rpcameron
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  • Please see the old comments to this question at the top, I explained the etymology there some time ago. – Orbling Feb 15 '11 at 10:02
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    Scamper sounds completely different to me. It's the way an excited puppy runs around a room. It holds no connotations of moving fast to a different location. Scarper has an additional connotation of a group splitting up, running off in different directions, to get away from authority. It's the sort of thing a bunch of kids might do when caught scrumping. – TRiG Aug 05 '11 at 22:25
0

Show your American Chums Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban and ask them to check out Ron Weasley's rat Scarpers's behavior (running away). That would better aid them better to understand what Scarper means.

ikartik90
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0

Dipset!

Let's dipset, it's the fuzz!

Claudiu
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0

I remember this from old British mysteries, I think either Dorothy L. Sayers or the Albert Campion books. Scarper is linked to gypsy talk (Romany). The gypsies said "scarpa." I would argue against "scamper" as the US equivalent. Squirrels scamper. Thugs scarper.

Reader
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    This derivation is not correct. It's Cockney rhyming slang after Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands. It's possible that novels or (more likely) early films of those novels misattributed it. http://www.cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk/slang/scapa_flow – Andrew Leach May 15 '12 at 06:36