Slags

[cats meat man]

I am wondering if anybody knows where the word slag or slags comes from? One source claims that it originated from 1950's America but it is also used in the film 'From Hell'
Another reason why I am asking is because I recently dabbled with a Ouja board with an open mind and not taking it too seriously,more for a bit of a laugh than anything.We were all convinced that each other was moving the glass especially when 'Jack' supposedly came through.It was then decided that I would take my finger off the glass and the two lasses I was with would continue with me just asking the questions.The glass continued to move around the makeshift board and kept on spelling out the word,'slags' among others.I have an open mind but I wasn't convinced but it did get me thinking about wether or not this was a common term used in the nineteenth century.
All the best
Rob

[Mike Covell]

Be very careful messing with them Rob, for fun or not, I have seen some pretty serious stuff when people have messed with a Ouija board.

That said, I always thought the origin of the word stemmed from the left over compound when metal is removed from it's ore.
Another meaning as it's origins with the scum left over from a similar process.

Not quite sure of when it was first used in language, but I know it is used fairly often here in Hull to describe "Loose Ladies!!"

[DarkPassenger]

Ouija Boards are dangerous.

The word "slag" was first used to describe the headline act at Amy Winehouse concerts, by fans too drunk to use too many syllables.

[cats meat man]

Thanks Mike,
Yeah now I come to think of it I have heard of a slag heap before in relation to mining and there were plenty of mines around back then.I wont be messing with any more Ouja boards!I have also seen it used in London gangster movies as in,'Oi you,yer slaaaggg!'
All the best
Rob

[cats meat man]

Hi Dark Passenger
'They tried to put salad on ma kebab but I said no no no'
All the best
Rob

[Sam Flynn]

According to Partridge's Dictionary of Slang, "slag" makes its first UK appearance meaning "prostitute" in 1958. Before then, it was a word denoting a "contemptible person" of either sex - but even this usage was only first recorded in Britain in 1943. Prior to both of these, "slag" apparently just meant "coward" (first recorded in the UK in 1788).

Note that, although "slag-meaning-prostitute" only made its first printed appearance in the late 1950s, it would have been in common verbal usage for some time previously. Whether it would have been used in that sense back in the 1880s is hard to ascertain.

My gut feeling tells me that its origin as a derogatory term for a woman might have been towards the end of the 19th Century, where desperate women sometimes found jobs picking slag at steelworks, or gathering small pieces of coal at the local mine.

[Dan Norder]

From my experience, most dictionaries reporting first use of words of a certain meaning in print end up missing several earlier references. Most of them were first put together before it was easy to do broad searches across databases containing newspapers, books and magazines, and even today most of these databases are woefully incomplete.

On the other hand, we're talking about a Ouija board here, so there's no reason to think that the word was being used in any way other than the modern one as known by one or more of the people pushing the marker around the board. Ouija is a game invented by Parker Brothers for entertainment purposes only.

Next time you might instead try telling the two lasses that they can help solve the Jack the Ripper mystery through a nice game of Twister.

[Simon Wood]

Hi All,

Brush up your Shakespeare.

Regards,

Simon

[Stephen Thomas]

My gut feeling tells me that its origin as a derogatory term for a woman might have been towards the end of the 19th Century, where desperate women sometimes found jobs picking slag at steelworks, or gathering small pieces of coal at the local mine.

Hi Sam

My own feeling is that it's something to do with coal in that coal is and was the real deal whereas slag is similar, from the same mould as it were, but pretty useless. A woman called a slag would be the opposite of what Cockneys still call 'a lady' (cue Tom Jones) i.e. an absolutely wonderful person of the feminine persuasion. In Victorian times, in fact into the 1970s in Britain, slag was what was left at the bottom of the coal scuttle (cue Benny Hill) and used to keep the fire going overnight to avoid having to re-light it in the morning. As your good self well knows of course, though others here mightn't.

[Sam Flynn]

From my experience, most dictionaries reporting first use of words of a certain meaning in print end up missing several earlier references.

Very true, and perhaps the situation was compounded, in this instance, by the crass nature of the word itself. Early printed sources for such working-class vulgarisms may have stayed out of the mainstream for decades, making them harder to track down than some other, less innocuous, words.

[Observer]

Hi Rob

I suspect Dan has hit the nail on the head, those two GALS are taking the Micheal

all the best

Observer

[Sam Flynn]

slag was what was left at the bottom of the coal scuttle

That makes excellent sense as a possible origin for the word, Stephen. There is the equivalent term "slag-bag", however, which to my mind may hint more at someone employed in gathering "small coal", but who knows? Whatever the etymology, it's unlikely to have entailed much in the way of pleasantness

[Stephen Thomas]

Ouija is a game invented by Parker Brothers for entertainment purposes only.

Yeah sure, Dan. The only supernatural experience readily available to us and you've never tried it have you? Whatever it is, it ain't no game believe me.

Try it.

[Jeff Leahy]

All language is in a constant state of evolution and Flux.

However in its modern 'Estuary' english form the term 'Slag' does not denote prostitute, but is a term given to a lady or man of lose morals in the bedroom department..

I guess I've probably done more sainces, ouija boards, and haunted houses than most people and personally I have never experienced anything supernatural. Except a camera going crazy in a haunted house outside Bristol, (poledark) however I put the blame on Sony..

I still avoid walking under ladders, just in case however

Pirate

[Dan Norder]

Yeah sure, Dan.

Are you disputing that it was made by Parker Brothers, or you disputing that they made it for entertainment purposes only? I suppose you believe they marketed it as a toy knowing that it really brought spirits back from the dead as part of some bizarre supernatural conspiracy?

I would hope that whatever your religious beliefs are you would recognize the inherent silliness of the idea that souls could be dragged back from the afterlife whenever some kids get bored at a party and pull a toy out of a box. What is it, every time someone yells "Yahtzee!" an angel gets its wings?