#gatheringdust

I bought a vacuum cleaner six months ago and so far all it's been doing is gathering dust.

What’s so funny about this? For once I have a simple cartoon image. It’s two young women, sitting in a room, on a sofa, chatting together. The room looks nice and clean and tidy. Rooms don’t get this way by themselves. Someone has to do the cleaning regularly. Some people are better at this than others. We learn that the woman on the left purchased a vacuum cleaner (a Hoover, to you Brits) a half year ago. Now here’s where this all gets tricky. She says that up until this time, the vacuum cleaner has been doing nothing but “gathering dust.” But what exactly does this mean? If she weren’t talking about a vacuum cleaner, then the meaning would be clear because when we say that something has been “gathering dust”, it means that it’s just staying in one place and not doing anything or not being used. Objects left alone for a long time will attract dust that’s normally in the air. When you clean regularly you wipe off the dust; if you don’t it accumulates. BUT in the case of a vacuum cleaner, by definition, its job is to suck up dust or to gather it inside itself. Of course it’s always possible to let a vacuum cleaner go unused for a long period of time, in which case it too would gather dust – on the outside. If that were the case, the vacuum cleaner would first have to dust itself off before getting down to work. And THAT’s what’s so funny!

˗ˏˋ 𝐌𝐀𝐆𝐋𝐎𝐑 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐃𝐄𝐕𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐃 when Fëanor burned the ships ; he had always harbored affection for his uncle, but he, like all his brothers, had been swept into this merciless maelstrom of violence and vengeance. At last, this rift between their houses was mended when Fingon rescued his dear brother.

So naturally, he would receive Fingolfin's people with open arms, both for purposes of trade & strategy.

ㅤ❝... I hope the journey was kind to you — Ranyasúre, yes?❞ Maglor smiled (a genuine smile ; he was undoubtedly the gentlest of the seven) as he poured his guest a glass of wine.