Light On Dark Water

“Slough” vs. “Slough” vs. “Slough”

A couple of days ago someone added a comment on an old post in which there was some discussion of the correct pronunciation of "slough." Three possible pronunciations were mentioned there: rhymes with "cow"; sounds like "slew"; rhymes with "puff." Out of curiosity, I did a search for "how do you pronounce slough" and got a series of brief YouTube videos. The first two assert that there are two pronunciations. But they only agree on one of them, the one that rhymes with "cow." I think that's funny. 

Rhymes-with-cow seems to be pretty standard in Britain, no doubt reinforced by its being a place name, denounced in John Betjeman's 1937 poem:

Come, friendly bombs, and fall on Slough
It isn't fit for humans now,
There isn't grass to graze a cow…

If he thought Slough was bad…. Presumably he was spared the hideous experience of American suburban sprawl. You can read the whole poem at an interesting site called Poetry Atlas, which associates poems with places. Apparently it has a certain notoriety, and its own Wikipedia entry.

According to Google Maps, there doesn't seem to be a place named Slough in the U.S., but there is a Slough Creek in Wyoming. 

Maclin Horton

12 responses to ““Slough” vs. “Slough” vs. “Slough””

  1. Rob G

    Interesting. I’ve always assumed that when used as a noun, as for a place, it rhymed with cow, but as a verb it rhymed with puff. The former was based on the pronunciation I heard growing up of “The Slough of Despond” in The Pilgrim’s Progress. Not sure when I first heard the latter, but I recall over the years people saying “Don’t fluff it off” when they really meant “Don’t slough it off.”
    Don’t think I’ve ever heard it pronounced to rhyme with chew.

    Reply
  2. Mac

    Heh–there’s a comment on that other post from Janet which seems to say that for her it’s “The Slew of Despond.”
    When I was growing up people described a low swampy place as a “slew.” That was in conversation, I don’t know how they would have written it.

    Reply
  3. Rob G

    Yep, I heard that too but never knew how it was spelled — always presumed it was “slew”or “slue.”

    Reply
  4. Robert Gotcher

    Ahbveeuhslee, wee need speleeng reeform.
    (Using my pronunciation)

    Reply
  5. Mac

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English-language_spelling_reform
    Or get to the heart of the matter:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shavian_alphabet
    SHAVIAN ALPHABET NOW!

    Reply
  6. Robert Gotcher

    “How the English Language would sound if Silent Letters Weren’t Silent.” by Michael Mcintyre. https://youtu.be/BrJv_wUEKko?si=xVgUok1o4MOEB78S
    Did I first learn about this here?

    Reply
  7. Mac

    Not that I recall. I really do feel sorry for people learning English as adults. There are so many words that defy anything resembling a rule, especially those with “ough” in them. “Slough” is only one instance.
    Here in the U.S. we’ve at least scored one little victory which the Brits apparently have not: we don’t put the “h” in “yoghurt.” And I think the Italians get the blame for “lasagna.”

    Reply
  8. Rob G

    The Italian ‘gn’ is like the Spanish ‘n’ with the mark over it, as in “mañana.” It signifies an ny- sound — gnocchi, or the French “vignette.” In fact, before my dad had our last name legally changed in the early 60’s, it was spelled ‘Guaragno’ and was pronounced in Italian something like “Ghwar-on-yo,” accent on the second syllable. He took the extra letters out and kept the pronunciation close to the original, making it two syllables instead of three — Grano, which is the Italian word for wheat or grain.

    Reply
  9. Robert Gotcher

    Funny, I had always thought yogurt had an “h” until I started noticing it without. Maybe that has something to do with the fact that I first began to eat yoghurt while I was living in Austria in the late 1970s.

    Reply
  10. Mac

    Probably. The Brits also pronounce it wrong: “yahgurt” instead of “yohgurt.”
    That’s interesting about your name, Rob. I had wondered, actually. I had the impression that it was Italian but it didn’t seem to quite fit.
    I wonder if the French are actually worse than we are in the area of disconnection between the letters on the page and the sound of the word. “oiseaux.” “oeil.” “peignoir.”
    I sort of resent that “film noir” has become a standard term in English. “Noir” just doesn’t work for the English tongue.

    Reply
  11. Rob G

    My dad once met a guy, a dentist if I remember correctly, whose name was also Grano, but this fellow had shortened his from Granovitz — definitely not Italian.

    Reply
  12. Mac

    🙂 Definitely.

    Reply

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