Rantum scoot

Love this phrase.

rantum scoot n  Also random scoot, rantum scooting [From rantum scootum, var of rantum scantum harum scarum, disorderly]
An outing with no definite destination.
1878 Atlantic Mth. 41.645 neNY, Starting out for a day’s tramp in the woods, he would ask whether we wanted to take a “reg’lar walk, or a random scoot,” the latter being a plunge into the pathless forest. . . And when the way became altogether inscrutable, “Waal, this is a reg’lar random scoot of a rigmarole.”  [1885 Harper’s New Mth. Mag. 70.614 FL, He’s a deal sight more serious-minded than most of the rantum scootum boys one has to put up with in a wanderin’ life like this.]  1896 DN 1.423 Nantucket MA, Rantum scoot: pleasure drive.  1916 Macy–Hussey Nantucket Scrap Basket 142, “Rantum Scoot”—A term, we believe, peculiar to Nantucket, and very old. It means a day’s “cruise” or picnic about the island, usually a drive, but it might be on foot. The distinctive feature of such an excursion is that the party has no definite destination, but rather a roving commission, in which respect such a trip differs from a “squantum”. . . “Rantum” is probably a corruption of random.  1997 DARE File Nantucket MA, “Rantum scooting”—random scouting: picnics, trips with no destination.

Dictionary of American Regional English | Dare.Wisc.edu

January 17, 2012