That stuff under your bed—what do you call it? Dust bunnies? House moss? Beggar’s velvet? Ghost turds? Those fluffy little puffballs go by lots of different names. But a caller is perplexed by his mother’s term for those ever-multiplying dustwads: slut’s wool. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Creative Terms for Dust Bunnies”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hello, this is Mike in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
Hiya, Mike, how are ya?
Good.
Alright, what’s up?
Well, my question goes back to if people remember, until after World War II, most people had carpeted bedrooms. But before that it was wealthy people had either hardwood floors or those that weren’t had linoleum or floorboards. And I grew up in Minnesota and moved to Wisconsin. And that stuff you find under the bed, my wife referred to as dust bunnies. But my mother, who was raised in Texas, had a rather colorful term for it. She called it sluts wool. I thought that was kind of an interesting expression. Just wondered, could that have been a southern expression? Or what do you people use? Maybe you don’t have dust under the bed anymore. All those things.
What’s under my bed, huh?
I’ve heard slut swole for sure, but you know what? It’s British.
It is British, okay.
Yes, it goes back to the mid-19th century at least.
Oh, okay.
But I can tell you, Mike, that the slut in this case isn’t a prostitute. It’s not what we think.
No, it’s not a loose woman at all, no.
No, no, no.
No, slut is also a word that can mean a slovenly, slatternly, sloppy person.
Oh, okay.
Especially a woman. And it was used in that sense to describe that wool from that kind of person under the bed.
Right. Somebody who didn’t keep house well.
Exactly. I could tell from my mother’s tone of voice that was people who, especially in those days, that was only a woman’s job. And it was a woman who did other things and the cleaning that she was supposed to do.
Right. You could see how that usage of a slovenly woman could kind of transform into meaning a woman who was…
Right.
Had loose morals because she was out and about and doing other things and not taking care of the home like she was.
Okay, but you have heard the expression.
I’ve never heard of it around here.
Oh, absolutely.
Absolutely.
And there are quite a few of those expressions.
Have you heard any others, Mike?
No, I have not, no.
Like I said, in fact, when I married my wife and came to Wisconsin, that was the first time I’d heard dust bunnies.
Oh, really?
Anyway, I thought that was kind of a colorful one.
Yeah, that’s what we used in my house growing up in Missouri.
Yeah, mine too.
They sort of multiply like bunnies.
Yes, they do.
Well, there’s your answer, Mike.
Okay.
Thank you very much.
You’re welcome, Mike.
Thank you.
Take care.
Bye-bye.
So what’s under your bed?
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