Hello all -
I have a question on the pronunciation of slough of despond in Pilgrim's Progress.

A friend insists the British pronunciation is slough -- like bough --

it seems here on wordcraft it is understood as slough as in glue.

Has anyone else seen this different pronunciation?

Thanks,
Reed Munson
Lakeville MN

Well, I am not British, and I will let them answer for themselves.

But for me, depending on the definition, it's either "sloo" (to rhyme with "glue") or "sluhf".

And welcome, Reed!

I'm from the same area as Kalleh, but when talking about the body of water, slough rhymes with glue. When talking about Bridge, it is pronounced like "rough".

When I studied the book at school, our English master pronounced it the same way as the town "Slough".

In other words, as John Betjeman famously wrote:

"Come, friendly bombs, and fall on Slough
It isn't fit for humans now,
There isn't grass to graze a cow..."

Yes, in the UK it is pronounced to rhyme with 'bough'. Then there's the verb form for when a snake sloughs off its skin, which is pronounced to rhyme with 'enough'...

quote:

Originally posted by arnie:
Yes, in the UK it is pronounced to rhyme with 'bough'. Then there's the verb form for when a snake sloughs off its skin, which is pronounced to rhyme with 'enough'...

Unless the "bough" in question is "Bough" as in the old sports commentator Frank Bough...

(which, for US readers, rhymes with "off")

I would pronounce it to rhyme with "enough". Of course, I didn't realize there were so many meanings of the word til you brought it up. The only meaning I knew previously was the one Arnie mentions, to slough off dead skin.