Dust bunny
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dust bunnies (often one word, dustbunnies) are little clumps of fluff that form under furniture and in corners that are not cleaned regularly. They are made of hair, lint, dead skin, dust, and sometimes light rubbish and debris, and are held together by static electricity and entanglement. In British English, dust bunnies are sometimes called beggar's velvet.
Dust bunnies are frequently a source of amusement by making out that they are actual living creatures formed of dust, attested to by the many websites on the care and feeding of dust bunnies.[1] Many cartoons reference dust bunnies, and parents often give tongue-in-cheek warnings to their children that dust bunnies will haunt them if they do not clean their rooms, not unlike Father Christmas/Santa Claus giving lumps of coal to naughty children.
However, they can actually be harmful when they house dust mites or other parasites. A Dustbunny Cleaner has even been invented. It consists of a robotic ball with an electrostatic sleeve that rolls about under furniture collecting dustbunnies and other material.
[edit] Popular culture
In the 20th Century Fox release of the Japanese anime film My Neighbor Totoro, the phrase dust bunnies is used to translate Makkuro Kurosuke, a kind of animated dirt that inhabits abandoned buildings. A more literal translation would be pitch-black blackies.[2]
Loonette the clown has live dust bunnies living under her couch on The Big Comfy Couch, which actually look like bunnies
On Newhart, Joanna Loudon was afraid of dust bunnies.
[edit] References
- ^ Williamsen, Lisa. Dust Bunnies and Genealogy. dustbunnycentral.com.
- ^ Totoro FAQ: What are the Dustbunnies?. nausicaa.net.
