Okay it's not Chinese, but what does 'scruth' mean?

POSTED BY: TenthCrewMember
UPDATED: Sunday, December 4, 2011 17:25
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GUYWHOWANTSAFIREFLYOFHISOWN

Tuesday, July 4, 2006 8:02 PM

for me It's always been "scruth"

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/llama.php
-try it out, I dare you

98% of teens have smoked pot, if you are one of the 2% that haven't, copy this into your signature

I'm so into Firefly, my butt glows in the dark.

CYBERSNARK

Tuesday, July 4, 2006 8:47 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by wydraz:
Yeah. I think sometimes that those subtitles were written by someone with bad hearing or sumpin'.

"You're a rabbit, Mal!"

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We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

DAVESHAYNE

Tuesday, July 4, 2006 9:07 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Hell's Kitten:
MAL: Seems to me we had a solid plan. Smooth, you might say.

That's how I heard it as well but after listening again I'm hearing scruth. Weird.

Edit to completely change what I had said.

David

"Not completely as well as the series of Firefly..." - From a review of Serenity at amazon.de

PHOENIXROSE

Sunday, July 16, 2006 8:32 AM

Watching it again on Sci-fi I have to say I heard "smooth" but there's a hitch in the middle of the word, I think because he was leaning back as he said it so maybe his breathing hitched a little or something. It sounded almost like "srooth" but was still quite recognizable as "smooth".
Looks like most folk here agree with me, I just wanted to post...

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CRUITHNE3753

Monday, July 24, 2006 8:40 PM

Makes you wonder why the hell didn't the subtitle people work from the scripts?

CALLMESERENITY

Monday, July 24, 2006 9:00 PM

Well, according to the transcript here:

http://firefly.shriftweb.org/scripts/108.shtml

it's "smooth".

The scene's different in the shooting script and that line isn't in it.

I agree it sounds like scruth and I'd like it to be scruth. And I'd like scruth to be a word that is a combination of "smooth" and "truth" because that's how it sounds.

Can't believe I'm getting involved.

Oh well, my 2 cents.

Serenity,
First Officer of Destiny
President of The Juggled Gosling Chatroom
Bride8

http://callmeserenity.livejournal.com/

SLAYED

Monday, July 31, 2006 4:51 AM

If you listen closely (put it on repeat) Mal is saying "schmooth" (rhymes with vermouth) - not sure why. Like a Jewish slang version of smooth (like schmuck).

I can't explain why it is in the script differently. Maybe they were having fun on the set that day?

If you Google schmooth, you'll find many hits. Here's a fun one from the novel "Without A Home" by E.P. Roe. In that novel the character who says schmooth (the astronomer) is speaking English with a heavy German accent (very Faulkneresque).

There was nothing in her nature which led her to share in his almost fierce delight in the far-away disturbances, and he suddenly stopped and said kindly, "Vy I vrighten you mit sooch pig gommotions? You shust von leedle schild off a voman; und I likes you pegause you haf prain so you see und know vat I say. You see him too mooch, und so you dremble. Dot's goot. If you vas silly you vould giggle. Der schpots ish a goot way offen, und vill nefer virl you away; und next dime I dells you someding schmooth und britty."

So maybe it's German slang? Neither Jewish nor German make sense since Joss has setup an American/Chineese culture. I'm not aware other references in the series to other cultures.

Again, I believe this line was changed on set by the actors or the director. I don't believe that Nathan simply slurred his line.

ARAGLAS

Friday, August 11, 2006 3:46 PM

Okay, weird theory. Methinks "Scruth" is slang for "inscrutable"

I know it sounds weird, but I'm almost positive it's there on purpose (if only because it makes my teenoid senses tingle).

This is what going mad must feel like...
... No, this is what going mad must feels like!

NOSADSEVEN

Monday, August 14, 2006 5:52 AM

I think Nathan did slur the line, but not randomly.

As Mal, he gets that low, gravelly, slurred tone when he's dangerously pissed. Like in the movie when he confronts Simon, "And you never did ask," before throwing him on the table. Nathan acts with his whole body, so maybe it's something about the set of his jaw when he's seriously angry... I've always liked the nuance of it.

In Ariel his tone was a bit brighter, since he was playing with Jayne a bit. But that deep, dangerous anger was right there, and thus, I vote for "smooth".

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ain't. We. Just.

OUTFROMARIEL

Sunday, March 28, 2010 6:18 PM

Scruth seems to be a druidic term (google "druid" and "scruth"), but beyond this, Not a clue. :)

"Live horse, a pile of panic."

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