I avidly read Lucy Kellaway (Fin. Times), so when her headline mentioned “cyber-skiving” I had to research the term. Skive is British slang for avoiding work by staying away or leaving early; it’s often heard in the form skive off. The term may have appeared in World War I when British troops in France borrowed it from the French esquiver, to slink away. Cyber-skiving is wasting time online, such as reading blogs.
Now we have the proper term for the dead wood, the derelict, the dreamer, the Free-Cell addict, the clock watcher, the blog grazer – skivers all.