The voice of protest has not been dimmed here in Australia. Following the massive anti-detention and anti-war events of the last couple of years a new cause has emerged:
“For we are saying, give sheep a chance …”
Yes, the save-the-sheep people really did sing this over the weekend.
“Give sheep a chance…”
It was inevitable, I suppose, that the fate of these bleaters (the sheep that is) has resulted in a new sheep joke. I seem to be a magnet for any of these going around. Here it is, with thanks to David and hot from my inbox:
“The crisis of the ship containing 50,000 Australian sheep in the Persian Gulf has been solved. The ship has been redirected to New Zealand and renamed ‘The Love Boat’.”
Oh, I never get sick of those sheep jokes - not.
Anyway just to show I’m not afraid of tackling the big issues, there was a great response to my request for the correct word for that funny ring of fluff you get out of the dryer, possible uses and why is it always that funny mauve colour?
Norm wrote he thought “lint" was the word I was looking for.
“It wasn't a word that I heard much in NZ, but funnily enough here in the US it's pretty common. Read into that what you will.”
Thanks Norm, but while I agree lint is the stuff, the word doesn’t work hard enough. It doesn’t describe the unique ring shape of dryer fluff.
DavidG says the “lint in the ‘lint filter’ of the dryer “has a bluish tinge because apparently that is the base colour of the plastic compounds that are use in the synthetics in clothing these days. There was a study on belly button lint done recently and it delivered this finding.”
On uses, ChrisB reckons “It's clean (having presumably just been in the washing machine prior to its sojourn in the dryer) and dry, so it would make a good packaging material for the evironmentally friendly. Or a cushion or cuddly toy stuffing.
“Of course, then you'd need another sad-bastard hobby, on top of collecting lint: making cushions or cuddly toys. BTW: Sometimes it's anaemic mauve, such as when you've only been drying white towels. But it's still got a bit of mauve in it. Questions should be asked in the House. I'll get on to Winston ...”
Scott provided these useful links for the fluffophile in all of us:
“I thought these might interest you and the Girlie's dryer lint fetish:
http://www.colba.net/~brock/2000b/11-19.htm
http://www.mommarama.com/contest/contestlint.html
http://www.plokta.com/plokta/issue17/lint.htm
"Along with these there are a heap of recipes for dryer lint modeling clay (almost makes me want to go and buy a dryer now).”
While Deborah showed real creativity with these suggestions:
“Sometimes, if you put a load of say, white and yellow towels through the drier, you can get a layer of white fluff. This can create a particularly pleasing layered effect if you first dry some ordinary clothes, then the white and yellow towels, and then the ordinary clothes again. Of course, you have to ignore the manufacturer's instructions to clean the lint filter after every load...
“Names for 'fluff' rings... I suppose 'ruffs', but that has been taken. More interestingly, what about 'frings'.
“I had better go back to marking essays....”
Frings I like. It has a nice, err, fring to it.
And, finally, blog-mate Damian says:
“You have piqued my interest with your drier fluff. God, I don't know who's the sadder...
“I note Graham Barker, avid collector refers to research about the colour of navel lint vs drier lint and says that the light grey from the drier is more likely to be an average of the colours of the clothes, which would make sense really.
“As for uses, I should think it would eventually be useful for lining a shoe box, in which one could raise small birds (and I guess in Australia, joeys) that have fallen from nests. Softer than cotton wool, more environmentally friendly, and free.”
Readers, you truly rock my world.