Wednesday, March 18, 2009

I AM a Speaker of English as a Second Language, You Know...

From the on-line Thesaurus...

Main Entry: pull
Part of Speech: verb
Definition: drawing something with force
Synonyms: cull, dislocate, drag, evolve, extract, gather, haul, heave, jerk, lug, paddle, pick, pluck, remove, rend, rip, row, schlepp*, sprain, strain, stretch, take out, tear, tow, trail, truck, tug, twitch, uproot, weed*, wrench, yank
Antonyms: push
* = informal/non-formal usage

I am only trying to write a tiny mini-paragraph-ette on the care labels, "mercirized cotton is slippery. If yarns pull, gently (insert verb) in different directions". What??? Shelepp?

But seriously, would this do? I know some of the cashmere catches occasionally, so I thought I'd add it at the end of my default care instruction. Does that make sense to you? It feel soooo.... lame.
"If yarns/threads in this piece catch or pull, gently tug the area in different directions."


  1. ? Sorry, I'm lost.

    Or is it: 'stretch when it's wet'

  2. Hi!

    I speak English as a first language. And I'm not sure what you want the person to do if yarns pull.

    Are they supposed to pull back in the opposite direction? Or pull on the fabric around where it pulled to get it to sink back in?

    I'll try to remember to check back!!


  3. In the gallery, when people handle them, the cotton snags even if you have rough skin, and occasionally the cashmere ends get caught in buttons and earrings... And since it doesn't happen with me at home, I figured I had unconsciously learned how to deal with these, but not potential customers or gallery visitors, you see. Most pulling, particularly with wool, can easily be fixed of course, but just pulling and tugging the cloth.... Know what I mean?

  4. Sue, ummm... I want then not to pull on a small area or the particular yarn, but smooth it out within a bigger area... I guess... I wonder if I can take some pics with a sample piece.

  5. If yarns/threads in this piece snag, gently pull the fabric from side to side to move the yarn back into place.

    Or something like that?


    PS: Now I feel like I don't speak English as a first language either!

  6. "Side to side" doesn't mean pull at the selvedge, does it? I think what you said is what I mean, and i can take out "in this piece"... Yes?

  7. Ronette told me to use "tease". In fact she gave me a full sentence that wounded good at the time, but give me 10 seconds and I can forget most everything nearly completely...


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