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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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About this entry:
First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

SHANKIE, n. Also shunkie, shunkey, shunky. A water-closet (m.Sc. 1970); a privy of any kind (Kcb. 1970); a toilet (pedestal).Edb. 1986 Fred Urquhart in Joy Hendry Chapman 46 43:
" ... Then, half an hour after that, when Big Isa wanted to go to the shunky, I found him there wi' his troosers round his ankles."
wm.Sc. 1988 Robin Jenkins Just Duffy 172:
Mick's in the shunkey, where he spends half his life, tossing himself off, ...
Edb. 1993 Irvine Welsh Trainspotting (1994) 25:
Ah whip oaf ma keks and sit oan the cold wet porcelain shunky. Ah empty ma guts, feeling as if everything; bowel, stomach, intestines, spleen, liver, kidneys, heart, lungs and fucking brains are aw falling through ma arsehole intae the bowl ...
w.Lth. 2000 Davie Kerr A Puckle Poems 18:
We hae flo-oer bedecked borders an tidy trimmed greens, -
But memory flickers tho' dear scenes lang awa
An scents fae the shunky, in the auld Monkey Raw.

[From Messrs Shanks and Co., Barrhead, well-known makers of lavatory equipment.]

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