Hello and welcome to the English we speak, where we're explaining expressions used by fluent English speakers so that you can use them too.

I'm Faye Faye and I'm joined by Georgie. How are you doing, Georgie?

Oh, well Fafi, I'm actually really busy today. I've got lots of things to do. So after we record this, I'd better skiddle and get to work.

Oh, poor you. Well, skiddle is the word we're looking at in this program. It's an informal

English verb, which means to leave somewhere quickly, often with a sense of urgency and in quite

a chaotic manner. Yes, you could skiddle because you're in a rush to get

somewhere or you skiddle because you're scared of something. Human skiddle, but we can also use it

to describe animals leaving quickly. Time for some examples. We've got mice in our loft, but every time I go up there they just skedaddle.

We can't catch them.

Come on, guys. We need to stop wasting time and skedaddle.

Otherwise, we're going to miss the flight.

It's so funny. George is terrified of spiders.

Whenever he sees one, he sk scaddles. He's off.

Okay, Georgie, let's talk about its common forms. Earlier, you used it to talk about your own actions.

You said, I'd better skedaddle. How else is it used? Well, we can describe the actions

of others. For example, last night, my sister skedaddled as soon as we'd finished dinner. She didn't

even stay to help clear up. And a final one to mention is that it can be used as an imperative

to demand that people or animals

leave very quickly, although we have to say it's quite an old-fashioned way of using

skedaddle. For example, imagine you're working on something at home trying to focus and

your sister won't leave you alone. You might say to her, go on skedaddle. I've got to work.

Okay, let's recap.

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