Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 14:57:16 +0000

From: Jim Rader jrader[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]M-W.COM

Subject: Re: skell again



An addendum to my just sent post on skell :



I neglected to add a 1991 cite for skel from the Village Voice that

I must have marked myself:



Village Voice, Oct. 8, 1991, p. 39 [quote from Pable Guzman, WNYW TV

newsman]

"A lot of us tend to adopt police jargon; they use the term 'skel,'

probably from skeleton. It used to mean just low-lifes but now it's

used for blacks and Puerto Ricans across the board. I hear it on our

scanner and it infuriates me."



Aside from some obvious typos in my first post, I somehow came out

with "Merriam writers" instead of "Merriam editors"; God forbid that

any of us harmless drudges should consider him- or herself a writer

on the exalted level of, say, a journalist.



Jim Rader