It's not a blasted slither!

?

I know the feeling!?

That meaning of 'slither' is listed in my 30-year-old Oxford Shorter dictionary, so it's been around quite a while.

Slither is surely what snakes do! Sliver is a small piece…..or am I wrong?

midgey

Slither is surely what snakes do! Sliver is a small piece…..or am I wrong?

That's what I thought too. What exactly are you annoyed about gulligranny?

midgey

Slither is surely what snakes do! Sliver is a small piece…..or am I wrong?

You are not wrong

Phew!

I know puts my teeth on edge too.

Oldnproud

That meaning of 'slither' is listed in my 30-year-old Oxford Shorter dictionary, so it's been around quite a while.

That just means that people have been getting it wrong for over 30 years - just as they have been getting there/their/they're wrong. It is probably because it is a word that is heard more often than it is read.

Very thin leather, made by splitting through the hide, is called sliver. A thin slice of anything is a sliver. To slither is to slip and slide.

According to Chambers, sliver comes from the Old English word slifan to cleave.
Slither's origin is slidder from Old English slidor meaning slippery, sliderian to slip.

Interesting that we kept slide but changed the dd in slidder to th.

Yes we slither about on the ice a lot in Scotland. I used to extract slivers from people's fingers and toes a lot as a Practice Nurse and once a big one from a bum (Ikea related)! ?

Baggs

Interesting that we kept slide but changed the dd in slidder to th.

It could be because the voiced dd was easier to say after the long I in slide, but the unvoiced th was easier than the dd after the short i in slidder.

An ice-cream sandwiched between wafers is known as a slider (which is probably completely irrelevant)

Elegran

Oldnproud

That meaning of 'slither' is listed in my 30-year-old Oxford Shorter dictionary, so it's been around quite a while.

That just means that people have been getting it wrong for over 30 years - just as they have been getting there/their/they're wrong. It is probably because it is a word that is heard more often than it is read.

Very thin leather, made by splitting through the hide, is called sliver. A thin slice of anything is a sliver. To slither is to slip and slide.

A definition that preceded it was a smooth, slippery mass. Things that have been cut thinly frequently fit that description!

I think in old english 'dd' was pronounced 'th'. (Someone will correct me if I'm wrong.
When I was a child, in Yorkshire, giving food to animals (foddering) was referred by my father as 'fothering'. I think there are other examples in Welsh, where the original English went when the Saxons invaded (I think). Welsh for police is Heddlu, I think pronounced Hethli, or close to it. Sorry, going off the Slither subject but something I find interesting.

It's a word my MIL used to use a lot - "I'll just have a sliver, dear" but she would probably have been disappointed if I took her at her word! ?

I think in old english 'dd' was pronounced 'th'.
I think there are other examples in Welsh, where the original English went when the Saxons invaded (I think). Welsh for police is Heddlu

Interesting, I shall do some research rubysong

In Old English, th was written with the thorn symbol (þ), so there was already a letter that would be pronounced th. I am not sure, but I think dd was pronounced as dd. They are very similar when said aloud - the difference is just the placing of the tongue.

Slither is what my husband does when driving.... Slithers along

Sliver is a small slice, slither is what snakes do. Sorry I didn't make clear that the reason I shout at the radio/tv is that people say things along the lines of "Oh I'll just have a little slither of that cake".

It's nothing major, but it's sloppy.

Or ignorance?

I mean that literally not snidely.

Oddly enough I’ve never actually heard heard sliver pronounced as slither.

A sliver of glass---never a slither of glass :}