# What does slough (pronounced "slew") mean to you? Quick!! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 3, 2010, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-slough-pronounced-slew-mean-to-you-quick/548970 "2010-08-03T03:25:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-slough-pronounced-slew-mean-to-you-quick/548970/61 "2010-08-03T14:04:13Z")
To me it means to fall off in the manner of well stewed meat from the bone. I’ve seen it in reference to injuries to people and illnesses. To be clear, that’s the sluff pronunciation I don’t know that I’ve heard it pronounced “slew.” ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-slough-pronounced-slew-mean-to-you-quick/548970/62 "2010-08-03T14:04:42Z")
Pronounced “sluff” it would mean exfoliating or shedding. Pronounced “Sloww” it’s a town in England. Pronounced “slew”? Never heard of it. ETA: I just realized I’ve heard of a body of water in Iowa called Dan Green Slough, but I never would have guessed it was pronounced slew. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-slough-pronounced-slew-mean-to-you-quick/548970/63 "2010-08-03T14:07:16Z")
British. Slough (“slew”): A stagnant pond. And if you’ve ever been to Slough (ryhmes with plough), England, that sounds entirely appropriate. Slough was the setting for the British original of The Office. ---
**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:** [August 3, 2010, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-slough-pronounced-slew-mean-to-you-quick/548970/64 "2010-08-03T14:09:16Z")
> [@Oly](#): > > Please answer before reading others’ responses. OK. To me a slough is a small, slow river that flows through marshland, especially in a tidal zone. I’m from L.A. and first heard the word there as an explanation of the name of the racehorse Seattle Slew. Now I live in Northwest Washington. ---
**Author:** ![UncaStuart](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncastuart/32/404_2.png) [@UncaStuart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncaStuart)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-slough-pronounced-slew-mean-to-you-quick/548970/65 "2010-08-03T14:14:34Z")
With that pronunciation, a marshy channel affected by tides. There are a lot around here, the San Francisco Bay region. I used to live next to Belmont Slough. Then there’s Elkhorn Slough on Monterey Bay. ---
**Author:** ![Trom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Trom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trom)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-slough-pronounced-slew-mean-to-you-quick/548970/66 "2010-08-03T14:18:04Z")
Marshy/swampy/wetland area. Like [this.](http://www.comoxvalleynaturalist.bc.ca/assets/images/scenes/woodhus_slough.jpg) Learned it growing up in Minnesota. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-slough-pronounced-slew-mean-to-you-quick/548970/67 "2010-08-03T14:43:29Z")
Before reading through the thread, just an off-the-cuff response to the OP: I never have heard of of a word “slough” pronounced to rhyme with “flew”. I am only familiar with the following: a) “slough” rhyming with “tough”, and meaning “to shed, or to scour away”. Often combined with “off” (e.g. _sloughing off dead skin with a loofah_). b) “slew” rhyming with “flew”, and meaning “a lot, a bunch”. Use in a sentence: _He was an hour late, and offered up a slew of excuses – overslept, flat tire, took a wrong turn, and so on._ ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-slough-pronounced-slew-mean-to-you-quick/548970/68 "2010-08-03T14:45:04Z")
Without reading: pronouced “slew” a rough mixture of water and various food stuffs givent o pigs and such. Or any mixture that is liquidy and not dissolving or even in suspension pronounced “sluff” to rub or scrub off - used mostly to describe the use of a loofah or other exfoliation device. After looking it up, I think definition one must be a local corruption of “slurry.” Was very common among the farmers in my Mother’s home town (South Georgia). ---
**Author:** ![filling\_pages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@filling\_pages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filling_pages)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-slough-pronounced-slew-mean-to-you-quick/548970/69 "2010-08-03T15:31:27Z")
Tallahassee, FL. Answering before I read the others. I would use it to mean an area with standing water that’s runoff from a river or other large body of water. Might have creeks going in or out of it. In other words, exactly what the other Tallahasseean said. ---
**Author:** ![filling\_pages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@filling\_pages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filling_pages)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-slough-pronounced-slew-mean-to-you-quick/548970/70 "2010-08-03T15:39:43Z")
> [@In\_Winnipeg](#): > > It can also mean an abundance of things, such as in “I have a whole slough of American change in my cookie jar.” Discovered this one at the same time from my Grade 4 teacher. I believe that one is actually spelled slew. Main Entry: 4slew Function: noun Etymology: perhaps from Irish slua army, host, throng, from Old Irish slúag; akin to Lithuanian slaugyti to tend Date: 1839 : a large number \ ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-slough-pronounced-slew-mean-to-you-quick/548970/71 "2010-08-03T16:10:07Z")
I thought it just meant “swamp”. The word was not used where I grew up (Rhode Island); I learned it from Dr. Livesey’s speech in _Treasure Island_ ("… and not having sense enough to know honest air from poison, and the dry land from a vile, pestiferous slough"), which, interestingly, seems to be the main quote used to illustrate the term when I Google it. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-slough-pronounced-slew-mean-to-you-quick/548970/72 "2010-08-03T16:23:24Z")
Marshy grassy area. ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-slough-pronounced-slew-mean-to-you-quick/548970/73 "2010-08-03T16:24:22Z")
Slough: A wet spot in a field of corn of corn or beans for which the farmer paid darn good money to eradicate whereupon the DNR boys came along and made him restore. Midwest USA definition. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-slough-pronounced-slew-mean-to-you-quick/548970/74 "2010-08-03T17:26:27Z")
My first response, without reading any other: a small pond. And I learned it only about a dozen years ago, from my daughter-in-law who grew up east of LA. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-slough-pronounced-slew-mean-to-you-quick/548970/75 "2010-08-03T18:00:32Z")
Down here near the everglades, a slough is a seasonal body of water. Specifically, a wide, shallow “river” that is (mostly) dry in winter. In my county I can think of Six Mile Cypress Slough, Gator Slough, Stewart Cypress Slough and Cow Slough to name a few. [Aerial image of a slough.](http://environment.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/12/Six-Mile-Cypress-Google-Image-cropped.jpg) It is the long, dark green streak running roughly NE-SW. ---
**Author:** ![gurujulp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ba9def/32.png) [@gurujulp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gurujulp)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-slough-pronounced-slew-mean-to-you-quick/548970/76 "2010-08-03T18:02:22Z")
a whole bunch of stuff ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-slough-pronounced-slew-mean-to-you-quick/548970/77 "2010-08-03T18:08:48Z")
A marshy area. I have no idea whether this is correct or not, I just keep thinking of the term “slough of despond” and assuming it’s some place where it would be very hard to walk without your feet getting stuck. And I was probably 40 years old before I knew of the pronunciation “slew”. I mentally pronounced it “sloff”. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-slough-pronounced-slew-mean-to-you-quick/548970/78 "2010-08-03T18:10:55Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > …And lastly, I seem to remember it being used in Pilgrim’s Progress, via Little Women, as “the Slough of Despond”, which always made me think of a swampy area with mud so thick you can get stuck and sink in it… ::::checks username, determines it’s not me:::: Huh - same source (I forgot to put that in my earlier posting), and same interpretation. Funny! ---
**Author:** ![gurujulp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ba9def/32.png) [@gurujulp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gurujulp)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-slough-pronounced-slew-mean-to-you-quick/548970/79 "2010-08-03T18:14:36Z")
> [@gurujulp](#): > > a whole bunch of stuff Missed the edit window- I typed a response as fast as I could without reading any responses… Pronounced ‘sluff’ I would call it the snake skin shedding… I wouldn’t ever think of a body of water or wetlands in a million years. Grew up in rural Iowa. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2010, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-slough-pronounced-slew-mean-to-you-quick/548970/80 "2010-08-03T18:16:34Z")
As a noun: a bog or swamp, or possibly something discarded as worthless, such as dead skin. As a verb: to shed something unwanted and useless, such as dead skin. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-slough-pronounced-slew-mean-to-you-quick/548970.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-slough-pronounced-slew-mean-to-you-quick/548970.md?page=5)