Noreena Hertz

Debt vultures are really the scum at the bottom of the pond. These are guys who buy up the debts of the world's poorest countries on the secondary market. You can go buy debts of a country like Peru, for example, at a real discount. Why? Because people think that the debts won't be repaid.

English Author

Lloyd Kaufman

The thing I find about the movie industry is that 99 percent of the people are absolute scum. They're horrible people, they really are. Very nasty killer rabbits who hate movies. But the other 1 percent are really the greatest, most wonderful people in the world.

American Director

Peter Kropotkin

America is just the country that how all the written guarantees in the world for freedom are no protection against tyranny and oppression of the worst kind. There the politician has come to be looked upon as the very scum of society.

Russian Revolutionary

The Miz

Whenever you're on a reality show, you're the scum of the earth. You have no talent, you're a nothing, and you deserve nothing.

American Wrestler

Watkin Tudor Jones

Zef is like dirt, it's like scum. There was no zef movement before we came along.

South African Musician

A. P. Herbert

I am sure that the party system is right and necessary. There must be some scum.

English Novelist

Steve Albini

By now all rock bands are wise enough to be suspicious of music industry scum.

American Musician

Duke of Wellington

Our army is composed of the scum of the earth - the mere scum of the earth.

British Public Servant

Frank Dobson

British Politician

Bruce Grobbelaar

Zimbabwean Athlete

Scum refers to actual physical dirt on liquids like water or soup.

Literal meaning

Scum is often mentioned when discussing cleaning fish tanks, ponds, or cooking pots.

Cleaning context

When 'scum' refers to dirt, it suggests neglect or unclean conditions.

Negative perception

When calling someone 'scum', it's a severe insult indicating they are the lowest of the low.

Strong insult

Describing a person as 'scum' implies they are rejected by society.

Social rejection

Use caution when using 'scum' about people; it's harsh and can be offensive.

Caution Required

 with dead matter supporting that network at every step. The resulting food web is so connected that almost every species is no more than two degrees from detritus, even us humans. You probably don't eat rotting things, poop, or pond scum directly, but your food sources probably do.

Dead stuff: The secret...

 care if it's unstable it's just beta test it with the real population in my case I'm ready to go I've learned that all living things must die except pond scum okay when this I've learned if you are in incredible physical shape Ironman shape you can strap some small jet

What I learned at...

 Will we invest in the next young woman or man peering through a microscope at the next little critter, the next bit of pond scum, curious about a question we don't even know today is a question? It could be a great question that could impact all the world.

The science of cells...

 which is really key for protecting an atmosphere and preventing it from being ionized away by the galactic cosmic rays and the solar energetic particles all of which can do your atmosphere dirt until you are left with this thin little scum of air,

Mars Up Close, Part 4:...

 fortunate to have had this magnificent students and post doc who have taught me so much and I have had many of these scum angle they are the future and I try to make them not be afraid of being the cat and being told don't think outside

Experiments that point...

 they also need to avoid burning too many calories feeding while swimming in deep water swinging your head like this uses a lot of energy feeding while standing is a lot less effort and closer to shore where the wind has blown the scum

Flamingo Attacked by...

 tanks now very basically it enters at that end and flows relatively slowly this way over the top of each tank is a moving bridge which has two blades to remove a solid organic material from the sewage the top blade skims scum from the

Where Does Your Sewage...

 swallowed the acid, has not yet taken in the brown-green algae pond scum into its body to give it energy. These are hacks, and if we looked at the general shape of the approaches to hacking life there are, current consensus,

Kevin Kelly: How...

 Sixty-five million years ago, a very important and catastrophic event changed the course of life on land. And although we know that the land animals I'm going to talk about are just the scum of the Earth on the land --

Paul Sereno: What can...

 Well, is this a typical place? Well, let's look around, you know, look in a random direction, and we see a wall and chemical scum -- and that's not typical of the universe at all.

Scum

A layer of dirt or froth on the surface of a liquid.

Generally, it refers to people who are considered irresponsible, dishonest, or socially unacceptable.

Usage tips

Literal meaning

Cleaning context

Negative perception

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