Everyday Canvas

“Stuff” Matters!

Prompt: What kinds of meanings does the word “stuff” hold for you? Can you think more meanings of it than what’s in the dictionary

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Such a versatile word is “stuff”. It is derived from Old High German stoffōn, stopfōn (“to plug, stuff”) and Old English stoppian, changing its colors over the centuries many times over.

As a verb, it means to fill something like a hole, receptacle or some space, like stuffing the turkey. An angry person may just tell you to stuff it, but I am not going into the detailed meanings of that here. Suffice it to say that in informal British use it means the rejection of something like, “Stuff that Gym Class!”

If you eat too much, you might feel stuffed since you have stuffed your face. When someone berates you, they may be knocking the stuffing out of you.

As a noun, it means any kind of matter or activity, real or implied. It also points to belonging. When an author says, “my stuff” he or she is referring to their work. In fact, you put any adjective or noun in front of stuff, and what you say takes a whole new meaning, such as icky stuff, red stuff, muddy stuff, girlie stuff, guy stuff, war stuff, animal stuff, school stuff, vacation stuff, house stuff.

Talking about house stuff, your house may be full of stuff, old stuff, new stuff, retro stuff. It may be so stuffed that you may want to move to a different house to escape from all that stuff.

At that point, if someone asks you what’s on your mind, you may answer with a sigh, “Stuff!” This answer here or in other situations may also point to delicate things that are either too painful or private, which you don’t want to go into. Related to this, people can have hard stuff, rough stuff, hot stuff, cool stuff, etc.

In the same vein, how about zombie stuff, monster stuff, vampire stuff, political stuff, big stuff, bad stuff, machine stuff, hate stuff, love stuff, school stuff, family stuff, electronic stuff, Hollywood stuff, relationship stuff and so on…

Then, if you know what you are talking about, they’ll say you know your stuff, or they might say, “she’s some stuff,” which may have a dubious implication, just like when they might say, “she’s strutting her stuff,” while they might think you are a stuffed shirt.

Of course. on the positive side, you might be the stuff of their dreams or the stuff of legends, especially on Christmas when you are their favorite stocking stuffer. Now, that’s stuff that matters, and it’s a lot of stuff.

stuff ensues unseen
we slip, we slump, we rummage
world turns on its head