skolly, noun

/ˈskɔli//ˈskɒli/
Forms:
Also scolly, skollie.
Origin:
Afrikaans, Dutch, YiddishShow more Afrikaans, probably adaptation of Dutch schoelje a rogue, scavenger (see quotation 1963); but perhaps adaptation of skorriemorrie rascal, riffraff, from Yiddish soyrer-umoyre rogue, hoodlum; see also quotation 1980.
colloquial
a. Especially in Cape Town: a Coloured street hoodlum or petty criminal, often a member of a gang. Formerly also in the phrase skolly boy. b. transferred sense. Any thug or hooligan. Also attributive. Cf. tsotsi sense 1.
1934 Cape Argus 8 Jan. 10The accused..were actually several degrees lower than the average ‘scolly-boy’ who commits most of the crimes of violence and theft in the Peninsula.
1943 ‘J. Burger’ Black Man’s Burden 85In Cape Town the so-called ‘Skolly gangs’ are a public menace, rendering many parts of the town unsafe for European women at night.
1950 D. Reed Somewhere S. of Suez 163The dens of District Six, where the police go in pairs and only if they must; that is where the skollies live, the roughs and hoodlums.
1963 L.F. Freed Crime in S. Afr. 139The name ‘skollie’ comes from the old Dutch ‘schoelje’, meaning ‘scavenger’. Dutch sea-captains shouted ‘schoelje’ at the seagulls which swooped to snatch up ships’ offal from the waters of Table Bay. Early Cape settlers shouted the same word at Coloured vagrants who snatched at their refuse dumps or begged in the streets.
1966 Van Heyningen & Berthoud Uys Krige 143A skolly boy of Cape Town’s District Six.
1967 Drum 7 May 4A skollie may get a few years’ imprisonment for a stabbing and is then set free on the community.
1970 Daily Dispatch 13 Oct. 2How often are these Pretoria skollies apprehended by the police?
1973 Argus 19 Apr. 5Unemployment among Coloured youths was said to be the main cause of the ‘skolly menace’ and anti-social elements among the community.
1974 To the Point 12 July 41She is degraded by her skollie-husband.
1980 A.S.A. East in Cape Times 22 Feb. 8I was..surprised to read of the origin of the word ‘skolly’ as described by Mr Manuel (Cape Times, February 16), in that he avers that it is derived from the word to ‘skol’. Certain researchers aver that the derivation of the word comes from the English ‘scullery boy’. This was later corrupted to ‘skolly boy’. The ‘scullery boy’ was a very low form of humanity.., and it was believed that this was the true source of the name.
1981 Sunday Times 10 May 6These people presumably wouldn’t mind sitting next to a white skollie, or object to a black man driving them in a taxi.
1981 Voice 17 June 14Elsies River..has the highest crime rate in the Cape..with skollies (young gang members) terrorizing the community.
1982 Voice 30 MayCan you imagine what could happen if it were people of colour who had done that...It looks like white[s] don’t qualify as skollies though.
1984 Grocott’s Mail 19 Oct. 11Let the Police keep up the good work...The Government should not give in to skollies and educated trouble-makers.
1986 Cape Times 25 Feb.Some of the force used was so serious that a person could only describe it as the actions of skollies (rogues) in police uniforms.
1989 Sunday Times 31 Dec. 5The fiery forward lost his cool when a player called him a ‘skollie’.
1991 H.P. Toffoli in Style Nov. 88As for the Cape Town girls, it’s tough...There are all those hooting, whistling skollies around. You can’t bare too much. Not like the girls in Sunnyside, who only have inhibited boereseuntjies to contend with.
1993 M. Mzonqwana in Democracy in Action Vol.7 No.5, 32Skollies or tsotsis take advantage of any situation. It is a most convenient thing for them to be able to blame their actions on apartheid!
1994 Style Oct. 30Pin-stripers queued to sip from tin mugs, street skollies saved up the entrance fee.
a Coloured street hoodlum or petty criminal, often a member of a gang. Formerly also in the phrase skolly boy.
Any thug or hooligan. Also attributive.
Derivatives:
Hence skolly  intransitive verb  nonce, to scavenge; skollydom  noun, the condition or activity of a skolly; skollyism  noun, the way of life of a skolly.
1949 Cape Times 10 Sept. 8The cure for skollydom is not mollycoddling.
1954 R. St John Through Malan’s Afr. 32Experts say that dagga is one of the least harmful of the narcotics, and yet in District 6 it leads to the shebeens and skollyism.
1964 P. Clarke in R. Rive Mod. Afr. Prose 97We and the other schoolboys called them ‘skollyboys’ because they were always ‘skollying’ for something to eat.
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colloquial
rare or nonce
skokiaan, nounn.skomfaan, nounn.
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