A skellum is a young lad who is a bit of a rogue, a scamp or a scoundrel. It’s usually used to describe someone who’s a bit of a loveable rogue.
A ned, on the other hand is a bit of a bad lad. A hooligan, violent and probably into petty crime. There’s nothing endearing about a ned at all and he’ll likely end up in jail time and time again.
I noticed whilst I was reading Greenmantle that John Buchan was ‘doing his bit’ in keeping Scottish words going as far back as 1915 when he wrote the book.
skellum
He has his character Sandy using the word – skellum – which means a rascal, rogue, a ne’er do weel (never do well).
ken speckle
Ken speckle means that someone is well recognised, well known.
Whilst I’ve seen this phrase written down plenty of times, I’ve only ever heard it used in speech once. It was by a very old man in Kinross high street and it was the first time I had come across the word but I think it is an easy one to guess the meaning of. So, despite John Buchan, it isn’t doing too well and I’m going to use it whenever I can. Of course it can be written as all one word.
Apparently kenspeckle is originally from Ole Norse and I’m pretty sure that skellum is too given the fact that it starts with sk.