# Define "skank" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 10, 2007, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/define-skank/399540 "2007-04-10T20:57:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2007, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/define-skank/399540/41 "2007-04-12T17:59:26Z")
[QUOTE=Zeldar] This is more of a tangential comment than an effort to add anything to the definitions and senses already provided. The term “skank” replaced, to some extent, the word we used in high school to refer to a really unattractive girl: _scag_. After I left the town where that word had that meaning for almost everybody I associated with, I didn’t hear it again. Years later I heard “skank” used in a similar sense of putting down as far as possible the physical attractiveness of a woman at work. That’s when I began to wonder if the two terms were both just regionalisms [/QUOTE] And there’s always stank ho (that’s not oh knats!). ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2007, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/define-skank/399540/42 "2007-04-12T18:07:31Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] And there’s always stank ho (that’s not oh knats!). [/QUOTE] You’re becoming one of my favorite Dopers! I almost included that in the post but figured I’d already gotten too far off-base. I see David Alan Grier. Where’s that from? PS: _Urban Dictionary_ shows “scag” and “skag” to include the usages I remember from school days. They also have “skank” as a synonym. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2007, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/define-skank/399540/43 "2007-04-12T18:30:35Z")
[QUOTE=Zeldar] I see David Alan Grier. Where’s that from? [/QUOTE] It’s from In Living Color but I don’t remember the exact characters/skit. It tickled the funny bone of my best friend so much I’ll never forget it. 😛 The equivelant ILC moment for me was Jim Carrey doing Vanilla Ice “I’m a little teapot short and stout” and “Kick it!” and his sneaker goes flying. Bwah! ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2007, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/define-skank/399540/44 "2007-04-12T18:32:00Z")
Oh, and [QUOTE=Zeldar] You’re becoming one of my favorite Dopers! [/QUOTE] ::blushes furiously 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2007, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/define-skank/399540/45 "2007-04-12T18:37:28Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] It’s from In Living Color but I don’t remember the exact characters/skit. It tickled the funny bone of my best friend so much I’ll never forget it. 😛 The equivelant ILC moment for me was Jim Carrey doing Vanilla Ice “I’m a little teapot short and stout” and “Kick it!” and his sneaker goes flying. Bwah! [/QUOTE] Didn’t the ILC crowd do at least one movie? I never watched the TV show on a regular basis, but I have a distinct memory of the bit involving a T-shirt or something where “OH KNATS” gets reversed for the camera and whoever it is (as I recall, Grier) having a surprised look on his face as a result. Pretty sure it wasn’t _Amazon Women On The Moon_, because I saw that again not too long ago. Grier and BB King and the “black man born with no soul” was the highlight of that. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2007, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/define-skank/399540/46 "2007-04-12T19:06:07Z")
The version I saw was one guy reading a paper and the other saying, You’re reading it backwards, it’s not Oh Knats, it’s Stank Ho. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/define-skank/399540.md?page=2)