# Robert Graves use of "Slut Farming" and "Squitch:" Any Britons know what these m **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [September 14, 2003, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-graves-use-of-slut-farming-and-squitch-any-britons-know-what-these-m/201589 "2003-09-14T17:32:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![\_possum\_stalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/b77776/32.png) [@\_possum\_stalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_possum_stalker)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-graves-use-of-slut-farming-and-squitch-any-britons-know-what-these-m/201589/1 "2003-09-14T17:32:41Z")
Maybe this should be in GQ, but it does involve literature… In Robert Graves’ autobiography, Goodbye to All That, at one point ol’ Bob points out that the district he was living in was known for “slut farming,” and a farmer jests to a politician that the main crop therebouts is “squitch.” I found “squitch grass” on Google, but my search for “slut farming” not not go well, as you may imagine. Please tell me none of this means what it could appear to mean. ---
**Author:** ![refusal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@refusal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/refusal)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-graves-use-of-slut-farming-and-squitch-any-britons-know-what-these-m/201589/2 "2003-09-15T12:04:37Z")
I’m guessing here a bit. Squitch grass (or [quitch grass](http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Quitch%20grass)) is a pernicious weed. That might just mean that the people grow only weeds. Slut in times past didn’t necessarily have sexual connotations, but meant either an untidy woman or a female servant ([definitions](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=slut)). So it might all be innocent, simply referring to the area’s unkempt nature. But knowing Graves, I’m really not terribly convinced. I can’t find any evidence for squitch as a term for sex (although “squick” is more recently), but I wouldn’t rule it out that the passage had a sexual nature. ---
**Author:** ![trishymouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trishymouse/32/6693_2.png) [@trishymouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trishymouse)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2021, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-graves-use-of-slut-farming-and-squitch-any-britons-know-what-these-m/201589/3 "2021-02-22T20:27:49Z")
Robert Graves wrote about that term again, this time explaining it - see [The Long Week End: A Social History of Great Britain, 1918-1939](https://books.google.com/books?id=tWhvH-brDVQC&lpg=PA174&ots=xxaMPMxnI5&dq=slut-farming%20robert%20graves&pg=PA174#v=onepage&q=slut&f=false) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2021, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-graves-use-of-slut-farming-and-squitch-any-britons-know-what-these-m/201589/4 "2021-02-22T20:34:04Z")
… And the explanation was…? 🤨 🤔 ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2021, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-graves-use-of-slut-farming-and-squitch-any-britons-know-what-these-m/201589/5 "2021-02-22T20:34:39Z")
@trishymouse, welcome to the SDMB! Good find for answering the question! Unfortunately, @_possum_stalker seems to have last visited these boards 17 years ago (not long after that post), so it’s unlikely they’re going to see your answer. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2021, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-graves-use-of-slut-farming-and-squitch-any-britons-know-what-these-m/201589/6 "2021-02-22T20:37:36Z")
It’s highlighted in the excerpt **trishymouse** linked to: > …‘slut farmers’ - men with sufficient private means not to worry about making their farms pay. They left their fields to get full of thistles and even thornbushes… So, pretty much what @refusal suggested. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2021, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-graves-use-of-slut-farming-and-squitch-any-britons-know-what-these-m/201589/7 "2021-02-22T20:38:44Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > … And the explanation was…? As per the link provided: > [@](#): > > ‘slut farmers’ – men with sufficient private means not to worry about making their farms pay. They left their fields to get full of thistles and even thornbushes, which provided cover for game; and found rough shooting far more fun than uneconomic farmwork. edit: ninjaed! ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2021, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-graves-use-of-slut-farming-and-squitch-any-britons-know-what-these-m/201589/8 "2021-02-22T20:40:58Z")
I think I’d like to be a slut farmer. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2021, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-graves-use-of-slut-farming-and-squitch-any-britons-know-what-these-m/201589/9 "2021-02-22T21:08:46Z")
Huh. I guess I didn’t (still don’t) see that link. 😔 ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2021, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robert-graves-use-of-slut-farming-and-squitch-any-britons-know-what-these-m/201589/10 "2021-02-22T21:12:31Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I think I’d like to be a slut farmer. Well, I’d certainly like to be a slut. I don’t really care what _specific_ job I don’t have to make pay because I already have enough money. Slut postman, slut writer, slut astronaut, it all works for me.