# "sook" usage? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 4, 2001, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sook-usage/91395 "2001-11-04T03:13:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Helena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c68b51/32.png) [@Helena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2001, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sook-usage/91395/1 "2001-11-04T03:13:18Z")
I just saw **cazzle’s** post in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=96900) where she said “Hoov’s a big old sook.” My husband and I spent three years in Newfoundland and heard the word quite frequently, but I’ve never heard it in the US. I also listen to CBC radio (Canadian) a lot and I can’t remember ever hearing it there. I see that cazzle is in Australia. How widespread is this term? ---
**Author:** ![to\_catch\_a\_painted\_pony](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b77776/32.png) [@to\_catch\_a\_painted\_pony](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/to_catch_a_painted_pony)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2001, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sook-usage/91395/2 "2001-11-04T03:18:49Z")
A soke is an Olde English government administrator. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2001, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sook-usage/91395/3 "2001-11-04T05:46:43Z")
Sooks will get you banned here, guys. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2001, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sook-usage/91395/4 "2001-11-04T07:48:21Z")
**sook** meaning “a stupid person” is used mostly in Scotland, Australia and New Zealand. The related **suck** , meaning the same thing, is Canadian slang. ---
**Author:** ![MattTheCroc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/439d5e/32.png) [@MattTheCroc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MattTheCroc)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2001, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sook-usage/91395/5 "2001-11-04T09:59:43Z")
Sook means stupid person? In my 17 years in Australia, every single use of it has implied that the “sook” was a “crybaby” or “complainer”. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2001, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sook-usage/91395/6 "2001-11-04T10:34:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bibliophage \* > \*\ ***sook** meaning “a stupid person” is used mostly in Scotland, Australia and New Zealand. > \*\* Not in Australia. Here in Sydney, **sook** has always had the meaning “crybaby”. * * * “I don’t feel like going to work. It’s raining, and I have to walk to the station, and…” “Don’t be such a big sook!” * * * By the way, US dopers, “sook” rhymes with _book_, not _spook_. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2001, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sook-usage/91395/7 "2001-11-04T11:49:08Z")
That big book o’ words is wrong over here in NZ, too. I agree with the “crybaby” definition, but it also lends itself to “over-sensitive, over-emotional” in the teary way. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2001, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sook-usage/91395/8 "2001-11-04T13:45:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bibliophage \* > **sook meaning “a stupid person” …** We Aussies prefer to use the term _Kiwi_ for that. 😃 **runs like hell before Ice Wolf wanders back in here** ---
**Author:** ![Helena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c68b51/32.png) [@Helena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2001, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sook-usage/91395/9 "2001-11-04T15:25:01Z")
That’s how they use it in Newfoundland–a crybaby, or somebody who always needs comforting. I’ve also heard kid’s blankies refered to as “sooky blankies”. There was an LDS missionary there from Holland named Elder Vanderhoek (I think) who was often called Elder Vandersook. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stafford_cripps/32/7167_2.png) [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stafford_Cripps)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2001, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sook-usage/91395/10 "2001-11-04T16:38:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bibliophage \* > \*\ ***sook** meaning “a stupid person” is used mostly in Scotland, Australia and New Zealand. > > \*\* In my experience “sook” or “souk” means a swot (geek, nerd…) in Scotland. ---
**Author:** ![TN\_hippie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@TN\_hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TN_hippie)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2001, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sook-usage/91395/11 "2001-11-04T16:52:46Z")
Stupid crybaby administrative geeks! “Sook” is a verb: \*Determined to find the word’s meaning, he **sook** the definition in every available dictionary. **Sook** and ye shall have found.\* ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2001, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sook-usage/91395/12 "2001-11-04T16:56:53Z")
**sook/sookey/sookie/sooky** _n._ [1930s+] [Aus./N.Z] a coward, a crybaby. [dial. _suck,_ a stupid fellow]. **sooky** _adj._ [1930s+] [Aus./N.Z] cowardly, weak, sentimental. From: _Cassell’s Dictionary Of Slang_.