The four-letter word slut has a long and checkered history, beginning in the fifth century (Middle English slutte) with the meaning "mud or impure liquid." The word has been recycled many times and acquired various shades of meaning (generally, a prostitute or sexually adventurous or "loose" woman; additionally, a "maid or kitchen drudge," a female dog, a promiscuous gay man, a slob or "slattern"). Foreign words for "slut" also abound, from the French (traînée, souillon, dévergondée) to the Italian (sgualdrina, sciattona, troia), Swedish (slarva, subba, slampa, jänta), Spanish (marrana, puerca, mujerzuela), German (Schlampe), etc. There are even sluts in Kansas. (Not to mention Southern California, according to The Onion in a bit that you may or may not find funny.) We found four results for Reslut* (along with seven for Rsult* and two for Reslt*) in OhioLINK the last time we checked, so keep an eye out for them and don't be slatternly when it comes to cleaning up your catalog.(Matthew Edwards' son dressed as Dorothy Gale and brother-in-law as a slut, Halloween 2008, from Wikimedia Commons.)
Carol Reid
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