Because it works best in my paragraph, the flow and the style. I am curious as to why you are curious?
Slightly off topic (okay, very), but your "curiosity" conversation reminded me of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUN2YN0bOi8
Squelched works for me. I think I'd pull a couple other words out of the original sentence, and end up with something like: "Kelly put the barely touched coffee on Elliot’s desk and squelched down the corridor in her soaked combat boots." Have to go with what works best for you, though
Thanks [MENTION=18889]Steerpike[/MENTION], that sounds good. I'm not sure whether I need 'soaking wet' just to give the paragraph a flavour (you know how sometimes trimmed down sentences can be almost clipping?) It's just that, for me, because English isn't my mother tongue, some words I never really connected with, so subtle meanings escape me. 'Squish' seems most natural in my mind, because it's almost onomatopoeic. 'Squelch' reminds me of a frog being splattered for some reason. Am I totally off the track here?
squelched means 'kept down' or 'suppressed'... has nada to do with wetness... squished is perfect, imo... stick to what liz said... she said it for me...
Yes, it does depend on the style and also the flow or feel of the sentence you want to create. The tightest or most lean sentence isn't always the best. As for squish v squelch, I'd be more likely to associate 'squish' with the frog, but that just might be me. Honestly, you could use either one of them and it would work perfectly well. In fact, if you look up the definition of 'squish' one definition you may find among others is something along the lines of 'to produce a squelching sound.' Squelch, on the other hand, may be: 1 : to emit a sucking sound 2 : to splash through water, slush, or mire Based on the above, it seems to me that either word works for your purpose here.
Oxford English Dictionary, whilst it does say that "squelch" means to silence or suppress, also says that it can mean a "soft sucking sound made when pressure is applied to liquid or mud."
"Sloshed" came to mind while I was reading this. Did anyone say that yet? Not sure if it works perfectly in that exact sentence though. I think of it more as water sloshing around in the boots. I actually thought "squished" sounded good though.
you could say she "trudged down the corridor in that wet, sucking way for which no concrete word exists."
The Free Dictionary thesaurus has squish - slop, slosh, splash, splosh, squelch Funny, I never would have thought squelch and squish were synonyms. BTW, my spellchecker redlines splosh. I like this idea:
Just seems like there would be other ways of conveying the sound without having to be so explicit - or spending so much time trying to fine the one word for it. Just idle curiosity
[MENTION=30989]shadowwalker[/MENTION]: You know how sometimes the sentence really pops, with the right verb, whereas to be even slightly more descriptive, it just blends in? So I really wanted just one perfect verb, and 'squished off' sounded perfect, but because English isn't my first language, I got insecure outside my comfort zone. Not saying that in some other situation, a phrase wouldn't be better, though. [MENTION=55364]kburns421[/MENTION]: I really like 'sloshed' too, thanks for the suggestion! [MENTION=50955]mbinks89[/MENTION]: 'Waded' was my first choice, actually Just thought an 's' word sounds more like it.
I believe it does, as a slang term, although I've personally never used that word in that way. In dictionaries though, the word "slosh" means: "to splash or move through water, mud, or slush" and other liquid-based things. So it's legit And people go by context when a word has two meanings, especially since, in this case, it's being used as a verb.
i would use it to mean someone was walking through puddles, but not just walking on a dry surface in sodden shoes...
