Assorted Comments

[Sarah Lang]

On May 22, 2007, at 6:34 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Assorted Comments
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> At 3:20 PM -0700 5/22/07, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>> I haven't googled, but Europe seems to accommodate slums as well:
>> "The slums of London - Glasgow - Marseilles - Cadiz - Moscow - etc."
>> Also Australia: "Yhe slums of Sydney."
>>
>>   So, everywhere but the U.S.
>>
>>   JL
>
> Well, there are the slums of Beverly Hills, from the eponymous late
> 90's movie, but I imagine there's some irony involved there.
>
> As far as slum = den, there's a louche quality to the latter (den of
> iniquity, opium den) that I'm not sure was ever present in the former
> (opium slum? slum of iniquity?).  "Slum" seems almost sociological
> and hence to cry out for euphemism, while "den" seems almost biblical
> (without even getting to the 'family room' of cub scout varieties of
> the modern den, the latter presumably a metaphorical extension of the
> animal abode).
>
> LH

While yes, I grew up in a house that had a "den" (family room), and
I've also used "den of iniquity," what I was saying that in my speech
(and those around me) "slum" could refer to a single house (and by
way of the verb form "slumming," an event), or room, but we would be
more likely to use den.

As for communities, I cannot remember the last time (if even) I used
"slum." I would have used the various other terms I suggested.

Sorry for the lack of clarity,
S.

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