"slough" (etc.)

[sagehen]

>A student--apropos of a discussion about "self" and "personal identity"
>(especially as related to bodily integrity) in literature and
>folklore--recently required me to read _My Sister's Keeper_ (2004), by
>Jodi Picoult (who, I have learned, is a leading author of chick books).
>The novel is about a young girl who was conceived and borne specifically
>to serve as an organ donor to her ailing elder sister. This sentence
>appears on p. 38, in a reminiscence of the girls' father about their
>teenaged brother: "I take the carving utensils and slice into the roast
>beef just as Jesse sloughs into the kitchen."
>
>Is anyone aware of a verb "slough" that can be used in that way? It might
>be a misprint for "slouch," except we would then expect an "-e-" to
>precede the final "-s." If there IS such a word "slough," how would it be
>pronounced? Would the verb suggest the way one might walk in a (noun)
>slough?  (Seems unlikely.) Or "slue" the way a car slues when one brakes
>on a wet pavement--twisting sideways? (Seems unlikely.)............
 >
>--Charlie
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~
Slouches still looks like the best possibility (maybe spell-checked from
"slouchs" in the orig), set against the various ways of using (&
pronouncing) "slough," especially in view of the fact that it is the
father's speech  being quoted.
AM


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W stands for >:<  War ____Waste___Wiretaps____Witchhunts  >:<
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