Scorp

A scorp (French: Scorper; Italian: Scorpo) is a scoop of sherbet, or, less commonly, the spoon-like device used in its formation.

There is some controversy surrounding the etymology of the word. Some consider the word scorp a portmanteau combining the words scoop and score. Others are of the opinion that scorp was formed by combining the words scoop and sherbet.

The word "scorp" appeared as early as the early 1900’s. In the 1909 supplement to the Century Dictionary, it was described as a slang term and "a 'portmanteau-word' applied to a "perfectly formed dollop of sherbet." Scorps are occasionally known as shoops.

Other Uses

Since its inception "scorp" has entertained a rather limited usage, generally only among connosiuers of sherbet. Most recently, however, the word has enjoyed a widening of both its use and its application, and, consequently, an unexpected upsurge in popularity. Scorp has come to mean practically everything. One might best compare use of the word to that of smurf. Indeed, entire sentences can be formed using nothing more than variations of the word "scorp".

By way of example, Hamlet's speech translated into scorp:

_{To scorp, or not to scorp : that is the scorp:
Whether 'tis scorpier in the mind to scorp
The slings and arrows of scorpeous scorp,
Or to take arms against a scorp of scorps,
And by opposing scorp them? To scorp: to scorp;
No more; and by a scorp to say we scorp
The scorp-ache and the thousand natural scorps
That flesh is scorp to, 'tis a consummation
Scorpingly to be scorp'd. To scorp, to scorp;
To scorp: perchance to scorp: ay, there's the scorp
(Hamlet - Act 3, Scene 1)}

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