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• sloe •

Pronunciation: slo • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: The blackthorn or sloe plum (Prunus spinosa) or its sharply sour fruit.

Notes: The sloe is similar to a small plum that is too sour to eat alone. However, jams and preserves are made from them as well as several liqueurs, such as sloe gin. This drink is known as patxaran in the Basque country of Spain, Navarre. Sloes preserved in vinegar are similar in taste to Japanese umeboshi.

In Play: Today's Good Word is not heard very often alone but is heard in expressions like sloe gin and sloe-eyed "having dark, slanted eyes". Whatever you do, don't misunderstand it: "I guess Nigel's new girlfriend misses a lot; he said that she is a sloe-eyed beauty from some tropical isle." (No, not slow-eyed!) Be careful of sloe gin, too; it is really a liqueur that can debilitate you no slower than regular gin.

Word History: In Old English this word was sla changing to slo by Middle English. You know what it is today. The original Proto-Indo-European stem from which this word descended was sloi-/slei- with that common [o]/[e] variation not clearly understood by linguists. English inherited the [o] variation. The [e] variation went on to become sliva in Russian, sljiva in Serbo-Croatian, the word that underlies sljivovica "slivovitz, plum brandy". (Today we must thank Dr. Margie Sved for suggesting such a plum of a word for our series.)

A fine word: but I'm not crazy about slivovitz. In fact, I am usually pretty quick at refusing sloe brandy.

Boys’ll come and boys’ll go — it doesn’t bother her
Last names are a mystery and first names are a blur
Maybe when she’s done with sin she’ll settle down at last
Says: “Why they call it ‘slow gin’ when it works so damn fast?”

-- Mary Prankster, Mata Hari

Warning: Mary Prankster, from somewhere in the Baltimore/Annapolis area, is know for her, um, Adult Lyrics. I think of her as "Our Lady of the Barflies." She has a way with both rhyme and meter. You will be entertained or shocked. 'Nuff said.

How are sloe, the fruit, and sloe-eyed conected?

How are sloe, the fruit, and sloe-eyed conected?

the shape I think.

mark like-a-pear Bailey

And darkish color.

AFTER HOURS

At midnight the fog moves in,
smooths the skirts over her knees
and watches the back door for any sign
of a dog or the house-ghost
leaking out to sniff at the air.

Up to their necks in water,
the trees quiver and sigh lustily,
only the blue flutter
of a neighbor's television
disturbing their self-contemplation.

If you should descend from your chariot
by means of ropes and pulleys,
yellow lights at high beam,
you might succumb like a deity
in the arms of the sloe-eyed fog.

a poem by E. G. Burrows of Edmonds, WA. Here's another, although no sloes in this market scene.

-gailr

I'm going to crown you the queen of literatrure quoters. Gailr is no giglet!