What's the difference between scum and slag?

Scum


Definition:

  • (v.) The extraneous matter or impurities which rise to the surface of liquids in boiling or fermentation, or which form on the surface by other means; also, the scoria of metals in a molten state; dross.
  • (v.) refuse; recrement; anything vile or worthless.
  • (v. t.) To take the scum from; to clear off the impure matter from the surface of; to skim.
  • (v. t.) To sweep or range over the surface of.
  • (v. i.) To form a scum; to become covered with scum. Also used figuratively.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) There, they learn that African Americans are the scum of the earth - then they are sent here.'
  • (2) The future is defined by the same old atavistic carnage as ever – which is, as Rosenbaum says, “an ingenious form of doublethink echoed in the very premise of a fantasy of the future beginning with “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away ...” Star Wars cast feel the Force after watching new trailer Read more I don’t hate Star Wars – I love the puppetry, just for starters, and all those beautifully dirty, scum-caked robots.
  • (3) I mean, these people have been described as evil, as scum of the earth, and if we’re paying them, bribing them, to turn back the boats, I mean that’s almost a crime.” Abbott: “Well Neil, the important thing is to stop the boats, that’s the important thing, and I think the Australian people are extremely pleased that that’s what happened.
  • (4) Though waterbirds, including moorhens and gulls, live on the margins, and a thin scum of litter is visible at the shore, the reservoir is not intended as a home to wildlife, and any fish living here are accidental visitors.
  • (5) Anyone who doubts or questions … will be relentlessly pursued by denouncers – “disgusting” is a modest term to describe this scum.
  • (6) Other Greeks with similar experiences said the far-rightists, catapulted into parliament on a ticket of tackling "immigrant scum" were simply doing the job of a defunct state that had left a growing number feeling overwhelmed by a "sense of powerlessness".
  • (7) The debate was interrupted after 20 minutes when about 30 student demonstrators walked into the hall and began to barrack Hunt, chanting "Minister of culture, Tory vulture" and "Tory scum".
  • (8) She was in my face saying, ‘You’re scum, you’re scum.’” That’s not accepted by Jordan.
  • (9) Liz Kendall, the former leadership contender, received a tweet calling for “a final solution to purge Blairite scum” like her from the party.
  • (10) The chants so far are the same as those at Millbank, and cries of "Tory scum" echo around the campus.
  • (11) When asked about Eddie Obeid's comments directed at her over the years, which included the allegations she had been " mixing with scum for so long that she no longer knows who is good and who is bad , what is real and what is made up," she said " It's not very nice, is it? "
  • (12) In the opening round of the tournament he shouted “dirty scum” during the third set of a comfortable victory over Diego Schwartzman.
  • (13) Half the class believed they represented “elitist scum”, but other prisoners defended their purpose, saying although they couldn’t attend one themselves, they now put their own children through private education.
  • (14) Liz Kendall, the former leadership contender, who is still undecided, received a tweet calling for “a final solution to purge Blairite scum” like her from the party.
  • (15) There were accusations of sexism when he gave a female candidate on The Apprentice the third degree about how she intended to organise her childcare and he prompted more outrage with an attack on professional footballers, which he described as "he biggest scum that walk on this planet".
  • (16) I will do everything it takes until we win full victory to free Ukraine from this scum, from this corrupt dirt which is capitalising on the blood of our soldiers and the victims of Maidan, and which has betrayed the ideas of the Ukrainian revolution,” said Saakashvili.
  • (17) Richard Davenport-Hines in his recently published An English Affair: Sex, Class and Power in the Age of Profumo writes that 1963 was the year when "the soapy scum flowed after the sluices of self-righteous scurrility were opened".
  • (18) We were just scared.” Witness reports describe protesters throwing snowballs at the bus and shouting “Let’s see what kind of vermin will get off here” and “asylum scum”.
  • (19) I'm just an ordinary person, I'm not scum, I'm not a thief or a junkie, but when you are desperate you end up resorting to desperate means.
  • (20) I salute them for that.” Class War, originally an eponymous newspaper as well as a movement, somewhat fizzled out during the 1990s but has been recently revived, standing six candidates in this year’s general election under the slogan: “Because all the other candidates are scum.” Class War is organising a protest this Sunday at a museum originally billed as celebrating the role of women in London but which ended up focusing on the crimes of Jack the Ripper .

Slag


Definition:

  • (v. t.) The dross, or recrement, of a metal; also, vitrified cinders.
  • (v. t.) The scoria of a volcano.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) I don't want to go on slagging groups like U2 or Simple Minds that aren't worth the words.
  • (2) In the Netherlands both Portland cement and blast furnace cement (slags from blast furnaces with about 30% Portland cement) are used for concrete.
  • (3) Meanwhile the Police Federation's attempts to extract retribution for the disputed p-word, in the form of Andrew Mitchell's sacking, have been roundly slagged off by former Labour minister Chris Mullin , who last week described the organisation as "a bully", "a bunch of headbangers" and "a mighty vested interest that has seen off just about all attempts to reform the least reformed part of the public service".
  • (4) As Miliband prepared to deliver his speech, whose contents were trailed over the weekend in an interview with the Mail on Sunday , Boris Johnson, the Conservative mayor of London, rounded on politicians who are "slagging off" a sector that is "crucial to the British economy".
  • (5) Mineral wool insulation, which is made from Tennessee phosphate slag, and commonly used insulation, which is made from blast furnace slag, had similar concentrations of these radionuclides.
  • (6) Quantities of land-disposed or stored residuals, including slags, sludges, and dusts, are given per unit of metal production for most primary and secondary metal smelting and refining industries.
  • (7) However, this hazard is not associated with any index of exposure to slag wool itself.
  • (8) Relatively thick rock and ceramic fibres (median greater than 1 micron) induced tumours, but slag and wollastonite fibres did not, probably because of their better solubility.
  • (9) The radioactivity levels of coal ash and slag in Hong Kong are about the average values in other countries.
  • (10) The US president might be all mouth in slagging off the Russians behind their backs, but Vlad was confident he was no trousers face to face.
  • (11) Long-term inhalation studies using several animal species and dust preparations of fibrous glass, rock wool or slag wool have produced little evidence of pulmonary fibrosis or pulmonary tumors.
  • (12) Mr Cameron can hardly slag off Mr Clegg as "not fit for government" when they will have spent five years sitting in the same cabinet.
  • (13) Who cares?” tweeted former congressman Anthony Weiner, and slagged off Philadelphia as a “2nd tier city”: Anthony Weiner (@anthonyweiner) Honestly, who cares?
  • (14) Concrete blocks made with phosphate slag had enhanced 226Ra and 228Ra contents when compared to ordinary concrete block.
  • (15) The present study is concerned with the pulmonary pathological changes in the rats following intra-tracheal administration of sintering dust and vanadium slag separately.
  • (16) Now I'd love to stay and chat all night, but unfortunately I have to correct all the typos in this report, insert gags where appropriate and remove all the bits where I slagged off Steven Gerrard, who is about to lift the Champions League trophy for Liverpool.
  • (17) Something sticks in the throat about having the word “lad” associated with a rapist, or an abuser, or even someone who might see fit to call me a slag.
  • (18) 2.09pm GMT In an unusual turn of fate, the front-page headline in today’s Bild is basically “Guardian live blogger slags off German Olympic uniform”.
  • (19) I have lost count of the number of times I have been called a slag for refusing to accept a man's advances or to respond to street harassment.
  • (20) This is a band that doesn't want to be slagging off the biggest pop station in the country.