I visited Bunyan’s hometown of Elstow, Bedfordshire…. it’s speculated that the “slough” was based on the wetland and stream near the abbey where he preached.
Dave Khan:
November 25th, 2015 at 4:08 pm
The rhymes-with-cow pronunciation of slough as given in the OED is standard for England/Britain (and perhaps New England), but for most of us in the U.S. it’s generally pronounced as “slew”.
Peter:
January 3rd, 2016 at 6:23 pm
Slough and slough
The pronunciation of this word always causes confusion. It is both a place name and a verb. The place Slough is pronounced rhyming with cow, but the verb to slough ( as in shed – a snake sloughing its skin) is pronounced rhyming with “tough” in England.
I was going to say what Dave Khan has already said but instead I will add something else: in Arkansas, one word for what might be called a slough elsewhere is “loblolly,” presumably from the loblolly pines that often grow in such places.
Jessi:
December 4th, 2016 at 12:20 am
Thank you to the last commenter for bring up the us pronounciation. I was sitting here wondering if i had been pronouncing that word wrong for thr past 20 years.
robert McCoy:
July 18th, 2019 at 7:50 am
I have just read the item on SLOUGH and indeed , I live in South London where on old maps of ForetHill an area was called
Perry Slough with an alternate spelling of slow. Formerly an unhealthy area it seems.
I had to read Pilgrim’s Progress in high school, back in the day when we were all familiar with a board game called “Uncle Wiggly.” The game had the character passing the Wibbly Wobbly Duck Pond and the Bow Wow Dog House on his way to whatever he was aiming for. My classmates and I wanted to give the teacher a version of the game that had the Wibbly Wobbly Slough of Despond and the Bow Wow Castle of Despair.
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Sean Bentley:
October 16th, 2015 at 7:08 pm
I visited Bunyan’s hometown of Elstow, Bedfordshire…. it’s speculated that the “slough” was based on the wetland and stream near the abbey where he preached.
Dave Khan:
November 25th, 2015 at 4:08 pm
The rhymes-with-cow pronunciation of slough as given in the OED is standard for England/Britain (and perhaps New England), but for most of us in the U.S. it’s generally pronounced as “slew”.
Peter:
January 3rd, 2016 at 6:23 pm
Slough and slough
The pronunciation of this word always causes confusion. It is both a place name and a verb. The place Slough is pronounced rhyming with cow, but the verb to slough ( as in shed – a snake sloughing its skin) is pronounced rhyming with “tough” in England.
Joyce Melton:
January 11th, 2016 at 3:34 am
I was going to say what Dave Khan has already said but instead I will add something else: in Arkansas, one word for what might be called a slough elsewhere is “loblolly,” presumably from the loblolly pines that often grow in such places.
Jessi:
December 4th, 2016 at 12:20 am
Thank you to the last commenter for bring up the us pronounciation. I was sitting here wondering if i had been pronouncing that word wrong for thr past 20 years.
robert McCoy:
July 18th, 2019 at 7:50 am
I have just read the item on SLOUGH and indeed , I live in South London where on old maps of ForetHill an area was called
Perry Slough with an alternate spelling of slow. Formerly an unhealthy area it seems.
Anonymous:
October 2nd, 2019 at 1:14 pm
Very interesting
John LaTorre:
December 30th, 2021 at 1:37 pm
I had to read Pilgrim’s Progress in high school, back in the day when we were all familiar with a board game called “Uncle Wiggly.” The game had the character passing the Wibbly Wobbly Duck Pond and the Bow Wow Dog House on his way to whatever he was aiming for. My classmates and I wanted to give the teacher a version of the game that had the Wibbly Wobbly Slough of Despond and the Bow Wow Castle of Despair.