Anathem Wiki
Register
Advertisement

Sline, a contraction of "baseline", refers to those who have not attended a concent; the uneducated.

Fraa Erasmas was collected from a sline family at the age of eight years.

Those without special education, skills, or aspirations to such. While sline describes a particular socio-economic class on Arbre, upward mobility is possible, as Erasmus's sib Cord is an artisan at the time of Apert.

During Apert, the avout of the Concent of Saunt Edhar found slines easy to identify by their posture, outlandish fashions and apparent pride in the lack of education.

Dictionary Entry[]

Sline
(1) In Fluccish of the late Praxic Age and early Reconstitution, a slang word formed by truncation of baseline, which is a Praxic commercial bulshytt term. It appears to be a noun that turned into an adjective meaning “common” or “widely shared.”
(2) A noun denoting an extramuros person with no special education, skills, aspirations, or hope of acquiring same.
(3) Derogatory term for a stupid or uncouth person, esp. one who takes pride in those very qualities.

Note: this sense is deprecated because it implies that a sline is a sline because of inherent personal shortcomings or perverse choices; sense (2) is preferred because it does not convey any such implication.

The Dictionary, 4th Edition, A.R. 3000
Advertisement