Scrimshanking

Scrimshanking, often considered a colloquialism, refers to the act of avoiding or shirking one's duties, especially in a work or task-oriented environment. It embodies a subtle form of laziness, where an individual strategically minimizes effort, finds ways to get out of doing work, and evades responsibility without directly confronting authority or causing significant disruption. The term suggests a level of cunning and resourcefulness in finding loopholes or exploiting weaknesses in the system to escape work, sometimes involving delaying, or pretending to work, when in reality, little to no work is being done. It paints a picture of cleverness and resourcefulness in avoiding obligations. It is similar to skiving or goldbricking. It's not the outright refusal to work. It's more of a calculated approach to reduce work done to the bare minimum. The term can be used in more relaxed scenarios or with the connotation of playfulness.

Scrimshanking meaning with examples

• During the final days of the project, John became an expert at scrimshanking, conveniently 'forgetting' tasks and subtly shifting them to colleagues whenever the supervisor wasn't present, always managing to appear busy.
• The employee was notorious for scrimshanking during morning meetings; always showing up late or appearing engrossed in his phone, never taking part.
• As the deadline loomed, Sarah began scrimshanking her responsibilities, crafting elaborate excuses to avoid her portion of the work, leaving her coworkers to pick up the slack.
• The team noticed their colleague's inclination for scrimshanking; his desk was always full of projects but he would always be away from his workspace.
• The soldiers knew he was scrimshanking, so he was given extra duties to make sure he contributed to the war effort.