σκαρφίζομαι = dream up, make up, come up with an (improbable) story, επινοώ
I got this from the telly. There is a channel on Nova called Epic Drama, mostly consisting of murder mysteries such as the Canadian series Murdoch, a UK/Austrian series called Vienna Blood, Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple, and other UK staples such as Grantchester, Endeavour and Inspector George Gently. Everything is subtitled. Recently, I have noticed what I consider to be translation errors, so I have been paying more attention than I usually do to subtitles.
One episode from Inspector George Gently (Northern Soul) concerned a murder victim who was found on ‘waste ground’. The subtitle translated it as σκουπιδότοπος, which I didn’t like. I would have translated it as αλάνα. In the same episode σκαρφίζομαι cropped up. I checked it with my Greek interlocutor, who gave it the seal of approval.
An example from Babiniotis:
Σκαρφίστηκε μία δικαιολογία και έφυγε = He came up with some excuse and left.