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Speaking of dust, I came upon this idiom in a book about the Victorian time - ****'s wool - defined as "accumulated dust that tends to occur indoors in areas not regularly dusted, such as under heavy furniture" Nowadays, we call this a dust bunny. (much nicer name, don't you think?)
Must have been pretty awful to live in those days with such a narrow and sexist perception of acceptable behavior and such a terribly forthright judgement on those who did not stay within that narrow perception.
Edited to clarify... didn't know I couldn't write **** here, so - starts with s, then has l, then u then finishes up with t. Sorry if I've broken a rule by spelling it out... no offense intended.
I believe sl-ut used to mean a sloppy housewife, without so much of the sexual connotation it has today. Which makes this saying more like "slob's wool". Not quite so offensive to modern ears.
We have taken to watching TCM’s Noir Alley on Saturday nights. The host, Eddie Muller, writes interesting critiques which he delivers verbally. He is obviously an excellent writer. You could tune in just to hear him deliver his critiques and interesting details about whichever old crime movie is being shown that night.
He called an old NYT film reviewer a “gasbag” last night. The reviewer, whose last name was Crowther, I think, did a verbose, bad review of Kansas City Confidential, which is a mediocre early fifties crime movie.
His use of “gasbag” made me laugh. It is a great, descriptive word. It might be a little old fashioned, but I think I will have to use it myself.
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