Slub or the Power of Words

The blind protagonist of "Night Vision" in the collection The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits by Emma Donoghue muses on vocabulary building:

Since then I've been collecting words, you might say. They help me to get up, say, when I can't find my fingers on cold mornings. Fingers, I say my head, and there they are, wriggling. Tabby is always bringing me words, even if she doesn't know what they mean. This week I have three new ones: funereal, ambulatory and slub. Sometimes for a game, Nelly and Catherine make me say all the longest ones I know; if I won't play, they pinch me. My brothers and sisters think words are to be scattered carelessly, like corn in front of hens. They don't know how much words matter.

"Slub" can be a noun or a verb; a lump in yarn or the action of preparing wool for spinning. It does what the well-placed word does.


And so for day 465
22.03.2008