2870: Slush Fund Oct 30, 2024

A slush fund is any store of money which is used for illegal or otherwise immoral things, but while it comes up now in the world of politics, big business, and accounting, it had far more humble origins. It began as nautical slang, referring to leftover grease and fat from cooking or other uses of reducing scraps. This was expected to be discarded, but could be sold for various purposes like making tallow or presumably soaps and candles.

While this wasn’t on the scale of slush funds that come up in the news today, it was an under-the-table means of small added profit on top of everything else. It was used in the 19th century but rapidly took off in popularity since the beginning of the 20th.