Just more punning. With the modern collapse of allegory The Pilgrim’s Progress has faded from contemporary consciousness, but it was once hugely influential, and while Vanity Fair is probably it’s best remembered addition to the language today, the Slough of Despond is perhaps the best known use of the word slough as well.
My conversation with Andrew ultimately ended up with a disagreement as to proper usage by my childhood landlady’s handyman, Scotty, who was pretty much a perfect comp for Willie on the Simpsons. He once refused an assignment to paint the inside of an old cupboard because it was “sloughed with dirt” (or as he put it “slewed wi’ dart.”) He actually tried to get me and my friends to clean it for him but we weren’t having any of it. He knew we were wastrels because he’d previously had to unclog our toilet by retrieving a pipe that had somehow got flushed. Although it was a standard tobacco pipe he was sharp enough to note that it had a screen in it, which meant that we were up to no good…
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My conversation with Andrew ultimately ended up with a disagreement as to proper usage by my childhood landlady’s handyman, Scotty, who was pretty much a perfect comp for Willie on the Simpsons. He once refused an assignment to paint the inside of an old cupboard because it was “sloughed with dirt” (or as he put it “slewed wi’ dart.”) He actually tried to get me and my friends to clean it for him but we weren’t having any of it. He knew we were wastrels because he’d previously had to unclog our toilet by retrieving a pipe that had somehow got flushed. Although it was a standard tobacco pipe he was sharp enough to note that it had a screen in it, which meant that we were up to no good…
- alex 5-06-2009 5:37 pm