A slew of

A slew of

The word I’d like to share with you today is “a slew of.” A slew of…this means a lot of something, and it usually refers to something bad. El Chapo had a slew of mistresses. That means he had a lot of them. This report has a slew of mistakes in it—that’s not a comment you want to hear if you turn in a project at work. You might have a friend who’s in a bad relationship; they might have a slew of personal problems to work through.

Slew—s-l-e-w. I wouldn’t say you must use it for something that’s bad, but it often has a negative or at least neutral connotation. You would not generally say, “Our team won a slew of awards.” It would be more common to say, “Our football team gave up a slew of goals last night.” Not good. It’s not good to give up a slew of goals.

You can use “slew” to talk about a big group of things—again, not always negative, but usually not positive. I’m writing this episode from my hotel room high above Times Square in New York, and I can tell you, there are a slew of people down there. Lots of people walking around Times Square; it’s so crowded, as always. Speaking of hotels in New York—if you’ve ever wanted to come, but you thought the hotels were too expensive, you’re in luck. There’s a whole slew of new hotels in downtown, near the financial district, and they’re offering cheap nightly rates—like around $100 a night, which is insanely cheap for a New York hotel. That’s because they built a whole slew of hotels in that area.

A “whole slew,” you sometimes say—I’m not sure why. There’s a whole slew of them. El Chapo’s trial exposed a whole slew of problems in the Mexican government—how police, state, and federal officials were bribed for their cooperation. A whole slew of issues, a whole slew of problems.

I hope you liked today’s episode. Thanks again to all of you who sent me your opinions on WhatsApp. If you’d like to be among those who get the occasional message from me, send me a note to +1 312 967 8757. JR and I will be back on Thursday, like always, for another episode of Plain English. Remember to check out our partner MosaLingua at PlainEnglish.com/mail. And come right back here in a few days for a new episode. See you soon.