OT: Arcania

This was originally a question that I was going to ask
of Jerry, with his wide knowledge and curiousity, but it
seemed to me that the diversity of geography, language
and age in the group might provide me with additional
insights.

In browsing the University of Wisconson's DARE
website I ran across their entry:

slow, slough (rhymes with plow) -"To strike, attack, kill."

I remember the word from my childhood in Montana and
wondered if Jerry (or anyone else) had any recollection of
it. 

Thanks for your indulgence.

Regards,
Ken Asbury

Ken Asbury wrote:
> This was originally a question that I was going to ask
> of Jerry, with his wide knowledge and curiousity, but it
> seemed to me that the diversity of geography, language
> and age in the group might provide me with additional
> insights.
> 
> In browsing the University of Wisconson's DARE
> website I ran across their entry:
> 
> slow, slough (rhymes with plow) -"To strike, attack, kill."
> 
> I remember the word from my childhood in Montana and
> wondered if Jerry (or anyone else) had any recollection of
> it. 

Not me! The OED has no reference -- the closest is slough (slow); to be 
swallowed up in a slough (sluff) -- and DARE doesn't go that far yet.

Jerry
-- 
Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get.
�����������������������������������������������������������������������

Ken Asbury wrote:
>
> In browsing the University of Wisconson's DARE
> website ...

i was wondering "what would UW have to do with a discredited, but not
yet dead, middle-school and high-school anti-drug program,
http://www.dare.com/ , that the U.S. government created to poison the
minds of our kids?  but then i found the website:

http://polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/dare/dare.html

... as Emily Litella would say: "Never mind..."

r b-j

>slow, slough (rhymes with plow) -"To strike, attack, kill."

Any relationship with slay/slain/slew?

-- Greg

robert bristow-johnson wrote:
> Ken Asbury wrote:
>> In browsing the University of Wisconson's DARE
>> website ...
> 
> i was wondering "what would UW have to do with a discredited, but not
> yet dead, middle-school and high-school anti-drug program,
> http://www.dare.com/ , that the U.S. government created to poison the
> minds of our kids?  but then i found the website:
> 
> http://polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/dare/dare.html
> 
> ... as Emily Litella would say: "Never mind..."

They may have said "Never mind" at UW too. I have the first four volumes 
encompassing A - Sk, but it's been a few years since the fourth and the 
fifth isn't yet available. Will it ever be?  Thanks to Ken for letting 
me know that material not yet in print may be available on line.

For the likes of R.B-J., DARE = Dictionary of American Regional English.

Jerry
-- 
Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get.
�����������������������������������������������������������������������

Greg Berchin wrote:
>> slow, slough (rhymes with plow) -"To strike, attack, kill."
> 
> Any relationship with slay/slain/slew?

 From what I glean from the OED, maybe.

Jerry
-- 
Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get.
�����������������������������������������������������������������������

robert bristow-johnson wrote:
> Ken Asbury wrote:
> >
> > In browsing the University of Wisconson's DARE
> > website ...
>
> i was wondering "what would UW have to do with a discredited, but not
> yet dead, middle-school and high-school anti-drug program,
> http://www.dare.com/ , that the U.S. government created to poison the
> minds of our kids?  but then i found the website:
>
> http://polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/dare/dare.html
>
> ... as Emily Litella would say: "Never mind..."
>
> r b-j

Sorry r b-j.. I should have posted the link for context.

Regards,
Ken

Jerry Avins wrote:
> Greg Berchin wrote:
>> Ken Asbury wrote:

>>> slow, slough (rhymes with plow) -"To strike, attack, kill."
>> 
>> Any relationship with slay/slain/slew?
> 
>  From what I glean from the OED, maybe.

When I saw Ken's query I thought of German "schlagen" or 
"schlachten", descendants of the OHG item Merriam-Webster mentions as 
akin to "slay". The first means "strike, beat", the second 
"slaughter, butcher, slay". Their first vowel sounds quite like the 
onset of the vowel in "slough" rather than that in "slay".


Martin

-- 
War doesn't determine who's right but who's left.
--White Wolf

Ken Asbury wrote:
> robert bristow-johnson wrote:
> > Ken Asbury wrote:
> > >
> > > In browsing the University of Wisconson's DARE
> > > website ...
> >
> > i was wondering "what would UW have to do with a discredited, but not
> > yet dead, middle-school and high-school anti-drug program,
> > http://www.dare.com/ , that the U.S. government created to poison the
> > minds of our kids?  but then i found the website:
> >
> > http://polyglot.lss.wisc.edu/dare/dare.html
> >
> > ... as Emily Litella would say: "Never mind..."
> >
> > r b-j
>
> Sorry r b-j.. I should have posted the link for context.

no need to apologize to me, Ken, (or anyone else).  it's just what the
term first brought to mind, and i like railing against D.A.R.E.
(Officer Friendly comes in to class and teaches skool kids to turn in
their ma and pa.)

r b-j

Martin Eisenberg wrote:
> Jerry Avins wrote:
> > Greg Berchin wrote:
> >> Ken Asbury wrote:
>
> >>> slow, slough (rhymes with plow) -"To strike, attack, kill."
> >>
> >> Any relationship with slay/slain/slew?
> >
> >  From what I glean from the OED, maybe.
>
> When I saw Ken's query I thought of German "schlagen" or
> "schlachten", descendants of the OHG item Merriam-Webster mentions as
> akin to "slay". The first means "strike, beat", the second
> "slaughter, butcher, slay". Their first vowel sounds quite like the
> onset of the vowel in "slough" rather than that in "slay".
>

Hello Martin,

You may be on to something here, since that region was settled by many
Germans. And  "slough" may be some German-English hybrid.

Clay