Lit Freak Jury

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

My S/O and I are having a dispute about how to describe a wino. She says the wino "sloshed" down the street. I say the wino 'slouched.'

I need an emergency literotica freak jury to decide the issue.

SLOSHED? or SLOUCHED?.

 

[Stella_Omega]

"Slouched is the posture that winos usually exhibit.
"Sloshed" makes me think he's totally drenched in wine, and gives me a feeling of his total disintegration-- very visual!

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

No STELLA! You cant pick both. Either side with my scum-dog girlfriend and her idiot word OR me, your next best friend.

 

[buxxxom]

What Stella said. Go with "sloshed." "Slouched" implies more of a stillness, while "sloshed" gives the impression of drunkenly swirling wine in a goblet, and having it spill over the edge when it's set down too hard on the table.

 

[oggbashan]

Slouched could be the movement.

Sloshed could be the sound made as he moved.

Both are possible but "Sloshed" is a more artistic expression.

I would prefer expressions such as staggered, weaved, rolled etc.

I think that slouching is the opposite to marching - a relaxed movement, and a wino's movement is likely to be more erratic than slouching.

Just my 5c.

Og

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

OGG! Youre the man! Use both! He slouched and sloshed!

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Sorry STELLA. Maybe you can use both. Just dont try wisdom on a real jury. They'll hurt you for it.

 

[Liar]

Sloshed is something you are.
As in "Oh man, I'm totally sloshed."

 

[Oblimo]

I say the wino 'slouched.'

When I see that, I think of...

"And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?"
-Yeats
​

And when I see...

She says the wino "sloshed" down the street.

...I think of, er, well, this:

http://oblimo.pbwiki.com/f/gallery-apple-venus-600.jpg

But that's just me.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Hmmmm. Though it be madness, there is method to it.

 

[Joe Wordsworth]

Y'know... when you use capital letters to refer to someone, but proper grammar (for the most part) in the rest of the message, it kinda freaks me out a bit.

 

[bluebell]

Y'know... when you use capital letters to refer to someone, but proper grammar (for the most part) in the rest of the message, it kinda freaks me out a bit.

Hmm. Freaking Joe out. An interesting idea.
*scribbles note*

 

[Boxlicker101]

As a former wino, I would say either could be correct. You could also say he lurched down the street, or stumbled. For that matter, you could say he walked or strode or dashed down the street, depending on what you want to portray.

I know from first hand experience that winos are not always drunk.

 

[DeeZire]

I like 'sloshed', especially if the wino had wet his pants recently.

 

[Stella_Omega]

I like 'sloshed', especially if the wino had wet his pants recently.

That would be "squelching down the street"

eeewwww...

 

[The_Fool]

I like 'sloshed', especially if the wino had wet his pants recently.

Memory of a loading dock on the wrong side of the tracks. Three winos passed out with wet trails from the rumpled bundles of clothing to the edge of the concrete.

 

[jomar]

Anybody can slouch, only pickled people slosh as they lurch down the street.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

A few years ago my office was located in an area filled with flop-houses, shelters, etc. Every morning our parking lot was filled with empties, syringes, chicken boxes, crappy diapers, condoms, etc. During the day the locals kinda slouched along, from the Salvation Army shelter to the park to the bus transfer station, and back. Or they slouched on benches. Or slouched at bus stops.

 

[cantdog]

When I see that, I think of...

"And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?"
-Yeats
​

And when I see......I think of, er, well, this:

http://oblimo.pbwiki.com/f/gallery-apple-venus-600.jpg

But that's just me.

Looks like a big green female Moe about to poke the dude in the eyes with her fingers and go "Ya moron!"

 

[Stella_Omega]

A few years ago my office was located in an area filled with flop-houses, shelters, etc. Every morning our parking lot was filled with empties, syringes, chicken boxes, crappy diapers, condoms, etc. During the day the locals kinda slouched along, from the Salvation Army shelter to the park to the bus transfer station, and back. Or they slouched on benches. Or slouched at bus stops.

That is very true. I think the question is in how much you want to convey. If your narrative viewpoint is matter-of-fact and kinda restrained, "slouched" is an exact word for what you see. If you want to express a bit more connection than that, "sloshed" adds the dimension of what you know about the guy-- he slouches because he's sloshed.

Either word will add a great deal to the overall atmosphere of your story, but they each are part of a different atmosphere. IMO, anyway...

 

[Oblimo]

Looks like a big green female Moe about to poke the dude in the eyes with her fingers and go "Ya moron!"

Ya can't please everybody.

 

[S-Des]

I'm kind of confused. 'Slouch' is a posture, and one can't 'posture' down the street (although he could shuffle along, slouching dejectedly). 'Slosh' is usually a term describing someone's inebriation, so how can you 'inebriate' down the street (again, he could stumble down the alley, making you think he look sloshed). Either way, both are incorrect as stated.

 

[Oblimo]

Either way, both are incorrect as stated.

Their usage is proper:

slouch, v.: to walk with drooping body and careless gait. "What rough beast slouches toward Bethlehem yadda yadda"

slosh, v.: to flounder in liquid; to make a watery noise. Both are appropriate to the archetypal wino soused on the sauce.

 

[S-Des]

Their usage is proper:

slouch, v.: to walk with drooping body and careless gait. "What rough beast slouches toward Bethlehem yadda yadda"

It must be a mid-western thing because that's not how it's used here (although it might work, I wouldn't use it that way because I always hear it as a description of posture). I've never heard slosh used like that either, but I'll take your word for it (water sloshing in a bucket doesn't bring to mind someone walking down the street to me).

 

[sr71plt]

Neither. Oozed.