Daily Prompt: Sludge or Slush?

via Daily Prompt: Sludge

I didn’t know what the meaning of the word ‘sludge’ is until I looked it up. However, before checking the meaning of the word I sure did think that it had a negative “vibe” to it, and that it was similar to the word ‘slush’, and ‘slushy’ and my guess was close to what the real meaning of the word is.

I have read up a few websites (like wikidiff ) about differences between ‘slush’ and ‘sludge’. While our prompt of the day, ‘sludge’ means mud, or mire, or “A generic term for solids separated from suspension in a liquid”(see wikidiff), slush is a nicer or better-sounding word. When I hear the word ‘sludge’ I think grimy, yuck, slime, whereas when I think of ‘slush’ I see ice-cream, soft, pretty, colorful, etc.

Sludge seems to have been first used as from the 15th century according to Merriam-Webster (1401-1500), but the online etymology dictionary says that it is dated as of the 1640s just like the word slush. The former website also says that the word slush was first known to be used in the year 1641.

While ‘sludge’ seems to be a variant of Middle English, the word slush seems to be of Scandinavian origin, as there are similar words with similar definitions in Norwegian, Swedish and Danish.

Sludge has other definitions like ‘slump’, which still perpetuate the idea of negativity or something bad. Slush on the other hand still is defined as ‘soft mud’ as if to make the mud seem a good thing or a positive thing.

‘slush’ is a synonym for ‘sludge’ but ‘slush’ is seen as a more romantic and positive word compared to ‘sludge’ which is portrayed as something viscous, crude and bad.

sludgeslushie

There are other words which may have similar meanings but the way they are portrayed is different. For instance, notorious and famous are synonyms, but when we think of the latter, we think of it as a positive attribute while the former seems like a negative characteristics. However, ‘notorious’ is given as a synonym to ‘famous’ but synonyms for ‘notorious’ do not include the word ‘famous’, same as ‘slush’ and ‘sludge’. ‘Slush’ is a synonym to ‘sludge’ but not the other way round.

The English language can be confusing but it can be easy to determine whether a word is a positive or a negative attribute from the way we write it or say it.

I didn’t know what the meaning of the word ‘sludge’ is until I looked it up. However, before checking the meaning of the word I sure did think that it had a negative “vibe” to it, and that it was similar to the word ‘slush’, and ‘slushie’ and my guess was close to what the real meaning of the word is.

I have read up a few websites(like wikidiff ) about differences between ‘slush’ and ‘sludge’. While our prompt of the day, ‘sludge’ means mud, or mire, or “A generic term for solids separated from suspension in a liquid”(see wikidiff), slush is a nicer or better-sounding word. When I hear the word ‘sludge’ I think grimmy, yuck, slime,…, whereas when I think of ‘slush’ I see ice-cream, soft, pretty, colourful, etc.

Sludge seems to have been first used as from the 15th century according to Merriam-webster (1401-1500), but the online etymology dictionary says that it is dated as of the 1640s just like the word slush. The former website also says that the word slush was first known to be used in the year 1641.

While ‘sludge’ seems to be a variant of Middle English, the word slush seems to be of Scandinavian origin, as there are similar words with similar definitions in Norwegian, Swedish and Danish.

Sludge has other definitions like ‘slump’, which still perpetuate the idea of negativity or something bad. Slush on the other hand still is defined as ‘soft mud’ as if to make the mud seem a good thing or a positive thing.

‘slush’ is a synonym for ‘sludge’ but ‘slush’ is seen as a more romantic and postive word compared to ‘sludge’ which is portrayed as something viscous, crude and bad.

sludgeslushie

There are other words which may have similar meanings but the way they are portrayed is different. For instance, notorious and famous are synonyms, but when we think of the latter, we think of it as a positive attribute while the former seems like a negative characteristics. However, ‘notorious’ is given as a synonym to ‘famous’ but synonyms for ‘notorious’ do not inlcude the word ‘famous’, same as ‘slush’ and ‘sludge’. ‘Slush’ is a synonym to ‘sludge’ but not the other way round.

The English language can be confusing but it can be easy to determine whether a word is a positive or a negative attribute from the way we write it or say it.

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