Literary notes about slacker (AI summary)
Literary authors employ the term "slacker" in diverse ways that reflect both character judgment and descriptions of physical or metaphorical decline. In some instances, it appears as a disparaging label for those considered lazy or irresponsible, conveying a nuanced moral failing or failure to meet societal standards—as when a character is deemed lazy and unworthy of admiration ([1], [2], [3]). At the same time, writers use "slacker" to evoke the image of something losing strength or firmness, whether in the gradual slackening of a grip, the deceleration of a tide or machinery, or even the waning fervor of a battle ([4], [5], [6]). This dual usage—merging social criticism with vivid physical description—demonstrates the word's flexibility as both a pejorative for human behavior and a dynamic descriptor of diminishing intensity ([7], [8]).
- But for him, I would have been nothing but a gentleman slacker myself—if there is any such animal.
— from Helen of the Old House by Harold Bell Wright - My son is a slacker—" It was only the maudlin drivel of a man not responsible for what he was saying.
— from The Tin Soldier by Temple Bailey - And thank God my son died a soldier, not a slacker."
— from Captain Jim by Mary Grant Bruce - Presently the tide grew slacker, and, half an hour later, the ships were seen to hoist their sails, and soon began to drop slowly up the river.
— from With Wolfe in Canada: The Winning of a Continent by G. A. (George Alfred) Henty - The hand that clasps anything, by slow and imperceptible degrees, loses muscular contraction, and the grip of the fingers becomes slacker.
— from Expositions of Holy Scripture: Psalms by Alexander Maclaren - A stretch of slacker water gave them some respite; but then came a long, tumbling, rock-strewn rapid.
— from Northern Diamonds by Frank Lillie Pollock - As we have the current on our bow, I want to get hold of the beach as soon as I can, for the sake of slacker water.
— from Brandon of the Engineers by Harold Bindloss - "Did they not welcome you as they should?" "No, captain, they treated me like a slacker.
— from A Blue Devil of France: Epic figures and stories of the Great War, 1914-1918 by Gustav P. Capart