# I only just found out that "manger" isn't a synonym for crib, but a trough for feeding animals **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 10, 2014, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-only-just-found-out-that-manger-isnt-a-synonym-for-crib-but-a-trough-for-feeding-animals/678448 "2014-01-10T16:54:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-only-just-found-out-that-manger-isnt-a-synonym-for-crib-but-a-trough-for-feeding-animals/678448/41 "2014-01-11T16:18:49Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > I can forgive your ‘mental lapse’, no problem. > > What bothers me more is the fact that I always assumed that you were a **Rev** erend named **Tim**. > > I’m guessing I was wrong? No, that’s where my username comes from. But I’m just an atheist who was ordained by the [Univeral Live Church](http://www.ulc.org/) for laughs, and that became my nickname in real life with some friends. ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-only-just-found-out-that-manger-isnt-a-synonym-for-crib-but-a-trough-for-feeding-animals/678448/42 "2014-01-11T16:20:09Z")
Mangers are for hay, troughs are for water, grain, or slops. ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-only-just-found-out-that-manger-isnt-a-synonym-for-crib-but-a-trough-for-feeding-animals/678448/43 "2014-01-11T16:42:25Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Je ne parle pas français. ☹ > > (But I thought the word didn’t have an ‘i’ in it.) I thought you were referring to the Old French word “mangier” and assumed you must be something of a linguist 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-only-just-found-out-that-manger-isnt-a-synonym-for-crib-but-a-trough-for-feeding-animals/678448/44 "2014-01-11T17:11:41Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > … **God in the Manger** Damn dyslexia. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-only-just-found-out-that-manger-isnt-a-synonym-for-crib-but-a-trough-for-feeding-animals/678448/45 "2014-01-11T19:29:58Z")
> [@ENugent](#): > > Damn dyslexia. Apropos of that and irrelevant to everything else, I saw a variant bumper sticker yesterday that made me (1) laugh and (2) actually want one. (I outgrew bumper stickers decades ago.) “Dog is my co-pirate” with a dogs-head Jolly Roger. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-only-just-found-out-that-manger-isnt-a-synonym-for-crib-but-a-trough-for-feeding-animals/678448/46 "2014-01-11T21:42:05Z")
> [@Huvudtvatt](#): > > To confuse things further: The original meaning of the word “crib” was “manger”. So we also can go the other way: “[corn crib](http://www.hrastovac.net/neighbor/Mala-Brsljanica/Images/brsljanicacorncrib.jpg)”, “[rock crib](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bQg7bOiAL4w/UTv0mYzR76I/AAAAAAAACWA/_EgdQbzRlkA/s1600/006.JPG)”, etc. An open structure to contain such items. At the place I mentioned earlier, we had rock cribs along an ancient fence line on the edge of a cliff. The ground was too rocky for proper fence posts. So we had cribs and mangers, neither for a baby. (Trying to Google image search “hay manger” is ridiculous. Far too many hits that are just misspellings of “hay manager”.) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2014, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-only-just-found-out-that-manger-isnt-a-synonym-for-crib-but-a-trough-for-feeding-animals/678448/47 "2014-01-11T21:59:01Z")
> [@Bozuit](#): > > assumed you must be something of a linguist 🙂 I’m not cunning. ---
**Author:** ![Jamicat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@Jamicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamicat)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2014, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-only-just-found-out-that-manger-isnt-a-synonym-for-crib-but-a-trough-for-feeding-animals/678448/48 "2014-01-12T23:52:17Z")
Sounds like something from Yahoo Answers… How come the cows didnt eat the babby jesus? What does a babby jesus taste like? What if the babby jesus got stuck in the slates of the manger and needed the jaws of life? Why they call him the babby jesus and not babby hank or babby bocephus? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-only-just-found-out-that-manger-isnt-a-synonym-for-crib-but-a-trough-for-feeding-animals/678448/49 "2014-01-13T00:06:56Z")
> [@Jamicat](#): > > What does a babby jesus taste like? Tender and mild. ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-only-just-found-out-that-manger-isnt-a-synonym-for-crib-but-a-trough-for-feeding-animals/678448/50 "2014-01-13T00:16:51Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > But speaking of troughs, since it looks like “though” I thought it it sounded like “trow” for ages. Same for “slough”. (troff and sluff, for those playing at home). You mean slew. As in swamp. Still spelled slough. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-only-just-found-out-that-manger-isnt-a-synonym-for-crib-but-a-trough-for-feeding-animals/678448/51 "2014-01-13T00:54:08Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Tender and mild. Ooh, well played. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-only-just-found-out-that-manger-isnt-a-synonym-for-crib-but-a-trough-for-feeding-animals/678448/52 "2014-01-13T01:11:06Z")
It rhymes with\* tough\*, _bough_, or _through_, according to its use. **slough** 1 [slou for 1, 2, 4; sloo for 3] **noun** 1. an area of soft, muddy ground; swamp or swamplike region. 2. a hole full of mire, as in a road. 3. Also, slew, slue. Northern U.S. and Canadian. a marshy or reedy pool, pond, inlet, backwater, or the like. 4. a condition of degradation, despair, or helplessness. **slough** 2 [sluhf] **noun** 1. the outer layer of the skin of a snake, which is cast off periodically. 2. Pathology . a mass or layer of dead tissue separated from the surrounding or underlying tissue. 3. anything that is shed or cast off. 4. Cards. a discard. **verb (used without object)** 5. to be or become shed or cast off, as the slough of a snake. 6. to cast off a slough. 7. Pathology . to separate from the sound flesh, as a slough. 8. Cards. to discard a card or cards. **verb (used with object)** 9. to dispose or get rid of; cast (often followed by off ): to slough off a bad habit. 10. to shed as or like a slough. 11. Cards. to discard (cards). (From [here](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/slough).) ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-only-just-found-out-that-manger-isnt-a-synonym-for-crib-but-a-trough-for-feeding-animals/678448/53 "2014-01-13T01:51:05Z")
> [@fisha](#): > > You mean slew. As in swamp. Still spelled slough. No, I meant slough, as in, what your skin does when it peels off. “Sluff.” ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-only-just-found-out-that-manger-isnt-a-synonym-for-crib-but-a-trough-for-feeding-animals/678448/54 "2014-01-13T15:33:58Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > When I was little, I thought a “manger” was another word for a “stable.” Mainly because the bible says Mary and Joseph “laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them at the inn.” So I figured the manger was shelter, like the inn would have been. I grew up in the suburbs and had no experience with mangers or stables. > > I think I learned the correct meaning before adulthood, though. I thought that “manger” was a synonym for “stable” up to the point at which I read this thread just now. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-only-just-found-out-that-manger-isnt-a-synonym-for-crib-but-a-trough-for-feeding-animals/678448/55 "2014-01-13T19:09:12Z")
If manger blew your mind; what about the thought that the manger in question was in a cave, and not in stable? Some Churches state that Jesus was born in a cave, as they were used by shepherds of the time to shelter animals from hostile weather. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-only-just-found-out-that-manger-isnt-a-synonym-for-crib-but-a-trough-for-feeding-animals/678448/56 "2014-01-13T19:51:43Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > I was in a Mexican restaurant with extended family and had just been introduced to a cousin’s new girlfriend (a 30-something year old woman) when she asked “I wonder how you say ‘tequila’ in Spanish?” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2014, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-only-just-found-out-that-manger-isnt-a-synonym-for-crib-but-a-trough-for-feeding-animals/678448/57 "2014-01-13T22:11:39Z")
> [@robby](#): > > I thought that “manger” was a synonym for “stable” up to the point at which I read this thread just now. :smack: Until this thread, I thought it was the animal pen, not just the feeding trough. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-only-just-found-out-that-manger-isnt-a-synonym-for-crib-but-a-trough-for-feeding-animals/678448.md?page=2)