As someone who is in the US and loved this movie, one thing bugged me. What the heck is a "scab" as referred to in this movie? His brother is called a "scab" multiple times, but he doesn't seem to be a "scab" as known by Americans - someone who crosses picket lines to work while union is striking. Could someone explain what this slang meant?
thanks
A *scab is the brown crust which forms after you cut/scrape yourself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwKl9EpexsU - To see Olivia, Explorer!
Strictly speaking it means the same over here as well but they are just using it as a generic term of abuse
shareYes, agreed - in this context it's just a generic term of abuse - one that was very popular in the 80's amongst High School kids in the south but is not heard so much these days.
If anyone threw in the towel and tried to walk away in a schoolyard fight the kids would stop saying "fight, fight, fight!" and start saying "scab, scab, scab!" instead!
I'm not sure if it's the same elsewhere, but in Australia and New Zealand also means a strikebreaker - i.e. a worker who replaces a union worker who is striking.
shareAt the time this was set, Britain was facing major economic crises, and a government determined to shut down failing industry. Strikes were pretty common, with all the mobs yelling "scab" that tradition demands. So kids picked it up as something that you could shout at people as an insult, without really understanding the socio-economic implications.
Basically, kids are dumb.
Yes that's how I read it in the film. In the UK during the 80's the coal mines in the North of England were being hit hard by industrial action. The evening TV news regularly showed the crowds of strikers outside the pits shouting 'Scab, scab....' at the men crossing the line.
Kids will just pick up any kind of buzzword or catchphrase and use it how they see fit. I expect this was even more likely in Southern England where they were distanced from the origin of the insult.
Again, it was nicely handled by the writer/director.
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I have absolutely no idea how this came about, but when I went to high school (mind you, it wasn't that long ago) a 'scab' was a person who stood out the front of the canteen taking money off sevenths graders. A thief, or a bully, I suppose, but that's probably just some weird way the word has changed over time. *shrugs*
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