The Slum and Slums
“Slum – definition: 1812 (of cant origin) 1. 1824 – A room. 2. A street, alley, court etc., situated in a crowded district of a town or city and inhabited by people of a low class or by the very poor ; a number of these streets or courts forming a thickly populated neighbourhood or district of a squalid or wretched character”. (OED)

Overuse and Misuse
Slum is an overused word. In the 1960s, whole areas of the towns I knew were swept away. Today in 2015 people refer to these areas as “slums”. Even on sites like “Salford’s Yesteryears” on facebook, people refer to all terraced houses as slums. This is incorrect use.

Slums – Not Easy to See
These areas were not all slums. The whole of Salford was not a slum. The whole of Manchester was not a slum. Areas of Salford, like…