Skaroll Down

OK, so one day a friend of mine and I were going thru some collection of filterz somewhere -- you know, the kind of stupid little program that'd turn, like, "What's that supposed to do?" into "WOT"S THAT $UPP0S3D 2 DO?'" -- and I'd just bought my first ska CD and had noticed how ska folk like to take English words like "compilation", "Mephistopheles", and "scoff", and distort them (an admirable task) to get "skampilation", "Mephiskapheles", and "skaff".

So I go, "I should write a filter that ska-ifies the input." But the trick is that most words you can't do it on; you can't ska-ify "keyboard" or "quiet" or in fact, almost any word in running text. So we figured I should just run it on /usr/dict/words, the UNIX English wordlist, to figure out once and for all all the ska words that exist. So I did, and here it is.

Well, some of the phonetics is a bit complicated (as a few of the vowels are a bit tweaky), but that's life, or, at least, ska. So if you ever start a band called Terra Skatta & the Episkapal Skammotions, you should like send me royalty checks.

The basic Ska wordlist

The basic ska wordlist consists of a best-guess match for /skV/ where V is not long, and the replacing that with "ska". To do this, I did egrep 's[ck][aou]' and s/s[ck][aou]/ska/ on /usr/dict/words, then deleting ska[eao] and ska[tpkdbg]e (long vowel words like 'skate', and a few odd ones like 'scout' (> 'skaot'). And I got this:
alfreska askamycetes Athabaskan backskatter cardiovaskalar caskara confiskable confiskatory corpuskalar crosskat Damaskas deskant Deskartes diska diskamfit diskardant diskavery diskas diskass diskassant diskassion Driskall emaskalate enskance episkapal Episkapalian episkapate eskadrille eskalate eskapade eskart eskatcheon Etruskan fiaska fiskal Franciskan Franciska freska Gaskany Geneska hopskatch hygroskapic indiskaverable ineskapable laskar Lipskamb macroskapic Madagaskar maskara maskaline meniskas meskal meskaline microskapy midskale minuskale Moskaw Muskat Muskavite Muskavy muskalar muskalature muskax muskaxen Nabiska neuromuskalar newskast obfuskatory obskare Oskar Paskal Piskataway plyskare Preskatt raskal skab skabbard skabious skabrous skaffold skalar skald skale skallop skalp skam skamp skan skandal skandalous skandium skant skanty skapula skapular skar skarce skare skarecrow skarf skarface skarify skarlet skarves skary skat skathe skatterbrain skattergun skavenge skaff skald skapic skaps skarch skare skareboard skarecard skaria skarn skarnful skarpion skatch skawl skaba skad skaff skaffle skall skalpin skalpt skalptor skalptural skalpture skam skarrilous skarry skarvy skattle skatum skalk skall skallcap skallduggery skank spectroskapic spectroskapy stereoskapy stroboskapic teleskapic transkanductance transkantinental Tuskaloosa Tuskan Tuskany Tuskarora vaskalar viskameter viskasity wainskat Wiskansin
...besides words already having s[ck]a in them, i.e.:
Alaska askance Kaskaskia Nebraska Saskatchewan Saskatoon scat skate skater

Ska overdrive

Here's where I keep the stranger phonetic transforms which involve mangling the word a bit bore than the basic Ska wordlist does.

Vowel-insertion

This is what gives you the name of the band "Skarotum". The way I got it was from egrep 's[ck][lrwn][eiaou]' and then /s[ck]([lrwn])/ska$1/ on the words file produces words I'd never have thought of if not for learning of the existance of the band "Skarotum":

"-script" words

askaription circumskaription conskaript conskaription deskaription deskariptive deskariptor inskaription manuskaript nondeskaript postskaript preskaript preskaription preskariptive proskaription skaript skaription skariptural skaripture transkaript transkaription typeskaript

"-scribe" words

askaribe circumskaribe deskaribe indeskaribable inskaribe preskaribe proskaribe skaribe transkaribe

other s[ck][lrwn][eiaou] words

arterioloskalerosis arterioskalerosis corkskarew crisskaross diskareet diskarepant diskarete diskaretion diskaretionary diskariminable diskariminant diskariminate diskariminatory eskaritoire eskarow hardskarabble indiskareet indiskaretion indiskariminate inskarutable miskareant muskale muskarat Sanskarit skalerosis skalerotic skarabble skaraggly skaram skaramble skarap skarapbook skarape skaratch skaratchy skarawl skarawny skaream skareech skareechy skareed skareen skareenplay skarew skarewball skarewbean skarewdriver skarewworm skaribble skarim skarimmage skariven skaroll skarooge skarotum skarounge skarub skarumptious skaruple skarupulosity skarupulous skarutable skarutiny setskarew skyskarape smokeskareen sunskareen

Initial /s/ insertion

OK, here I broke down and did it all in Perl: 
perl -e '$a = " " . join("", grep(/^[kc][ao]([mnlrt])\1/, <>));
              $a =~ tr/\n/ /;
              $a =~ s/([^a-z])([a-z]{2})/$1ska/gi;
              print $a;'
/usr/dict/words
skall skalla skaller skalligraph skalligraphy skalliope skallous skallus skanna skannabis skannel skannery skannibal skannister skannon skannonball skannot skanny skarrageen skarrel skarriage skarrion skarrot skarry skarryover skattail skattle skattleman skattlemen skallaborate skallage skallagen skallapse skallapsible skallar skallarbone skallard skallate skallateral skalleague skallect skallectible skallector skallege skallegial skallegian skallegiate skallet skallide skallie skallimate skallinear skallision skallocation skalloidal skalloquia skalloquial skalloquium skalloquy skallude skallusion skamma skammand skammandant skammandeer skammando skammemorate skammend skammendation skammendatory skammensurable skammensurate skamment skammentary skammentator skammerce skammercial skammingle skammiserate skammissariat skammissary skammission skammit skammittable skammittal skammitted skammittee skammitteeman skammitteemen skammitteewoman skammitteewomen skammitting skammodious skammodity skammodore skammon skammonality skammonplace skammonweal skammonwealth skammotion skammunal skammune skammunicable skammunicant skammunicate skammunion skammunique skammutate skammute skann skannect skannector skannivance skannive skannoisseur skannotation skannotative skannote skannubial skarral skarralled skarrect skarrector skarrelate skarrespond skarrespondent skarridor skarrigenda skarrigendum skarrigible skarroborate skarroboree skarrode skarrodible skarrosion skarrosive skarrugate skarrupt skarruptible skarruption skatta skattage skatton skattonmouth skattonseed skattonwood skattony skatty