Sloe

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Sloe

Postby Dr. Goodword » Sat Jul 02, 2022 8:59 pm

• sloe •


Pronunciation: slo • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: The blackthorn or sloe plum tree (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.

Image

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 of what he says; he said that she is a sloe-eyed beauty from some tropical isle." (Not slow-eyed!) Be careful of sloe gin, too; it is really a liqueur that can debilitate you no more slowly 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, šljiva in Serbo-Croatian, the word that underlies šljivovica "slivovitz, plum brandy". Czechs also have their slivovice. (Today we must thank Dr. Margie Sved for suggesting such a plum of a word for our series.)
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David Myer
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Re: Sloe

Postby David Myer » Sun Jul 03, 2022 2:58 am

So this sloe-eyed beauty has eyes like plums? Doesn't seem likely to me. A corruption of slope, perhaps, in the case of eyes?

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Re: Sloe

Postby bbeeton » Sun Jul 03, 2022 10:15 am

I've always understood "sloe-eyed" to be a fancier way of saying "dark-eyed".

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Re: Sloe

Postby David Myer » Mon Jul 04, 2022 9:11 pm

Interesting, Barbara.

This from one of the online dictionaries:

sloe-eyed
adjective
having dark slanted or almond-shaped eyes

Notice there is no comma between dark and slanted. That might be a mistake, but it does suggest that both features are a requirement of sloe-eyed. But Chinese people for example who generally have slanted eyes also have brown eyes. Of course not all brown eyes are slanted, but pretty much all slanted eyes are brown. I wonder if in the dictionary's case, dark just means brown?

I don't thing that everyone with dark eyes is sloe-eyed. But no doubt there are plenty of dictionaries that will say otherwise.

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Re: Sloe

Postby David Myer » Mon Jul 04, 2022 9:36 pm

Thinking further about this, I wonder if colour has anything at all to do with it.

I suggested that sloe may have been corrupted from slope. But if it does come from sloe plums, it is surely their shape and not their colour that has created the term sloe-eyed.

It is interesting that these days familiarity with sloe plums is so feint (certainly among city folk) that few will be familiar with how a sloe plum is shaped. I am certainly not. The images on Google suggest a round, purple plum. No sign of an almond shape. Damsons on the other hand...

Damson-eyed anyone?
Last edited by David Myer on Tue Jul 05, 2022 7:56 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Sloe

Postby Dr. Goodword » Mon Jul 04, 2022 10:44 pm

I couldn't figure out the connection with the help of all my etymological dictionaries and Google.
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Re: Sloe

Postby Slava » Tue Jul 05, 2022 7:45 am

My theory is that dark eyes were considered attractive, so some used a concentrated plum juice, or dried and powdered skins, to put in shadows.
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Re: Sloe

Postby David Myer » Tue Jul 05, 2022 7:49 am

:lol: Nice one Slava

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Re: Sloe

Postby David Myer » Tue Jul 05, 2022 7:55 am

Thank you for trying Dr. I take comfort from your failure on two counts:

1. My own failure does not necessarily or in itself indicate that I am stupid.

2. I am now free to propound (or even pontificate) any theory I choose on the subject, without fear of authoritative contradiction.

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Re: Sloe

Postby bbeeton » Tue Jul 05, 2022 11:17 am

I've only ever heard "sloe-eyed" used to refer to a female, and an attractive one at that. It shows up in folk songs from areas where eyes don't have an epicanthic fold, but may be oval.

I contemplated using the adjective "sexy" in my original response, but reconsidered. ("Come-hither" also comes to mind.) Hence the need for this addendum.


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