Why “sculduddery” is a great word
SCULDUDDERY — [Noun, Adjective] Grossly bawdy or obscene conduct; also, the quality of such gross obscenity. Of obscure origin; a Scots term popularized in English literature by Sir Walter Scott. First recorded in English in the early 18th century (1705–15). Unlike ribaldry, which cloaks indecency in good-natured humor, or skulduggery, a later variant denoting underhanded trickery, sculduddery is the sheer, unvarnished weight of lewdness. It is the soiled broadsheet passed in a tavern, the crude graffiti etched into a church pew, the lecherous whisper that curdles the air—a testament to the base, enduring muck that polite society forever tries, and fails, to scrub clean.