Old stuff and new words
Are you a hoarder, a collector, a retrophiliac, or just bad at chucking things out? Or are you decluttering on a regular basis, only keeping the things you need, as Minimalism would have us do?
Or maybe you are just getting a new bathroom...
In celebration of old stuff
There are many reasons why you might have “old stuff” on your mind. And today is just the day to celebrate that fact.
In the wake of Random Acts of Kindness Day, I got stuck on the Days of the Year website and found that, remarkably, today is “Old Stuff Day”.
Why is that remarkable? Because I am, at this moment, surrounded by old stuff. Tiles, mostly, from our old bathroom. I salvaged some from the wreckage, appreciating their retro charm.
“Retro”, as we know, is preferable to “old stuff”, and fetches a much better price at the jumble sale, flea market, car boot sale, second-hand-shop, vintage boutique and all the other places where hoarders get a chance to offload their, erm, elderly possessions.
Tell the story of your "old stuff"
What old stuff do you own? Which heirlooms, found objects, trinkets and tat would you never part from? Why would you never give them away? Which items would you like to pass on to someone else, but nostalgia keeps you from doing so?
Practice
You see, there is a writing exercise in that, if you want. Or a speaking exercise, if you have a fellow language learner or audio recorder handy. And you can read other people’s stories.
Age UK, a charity dedicated to the concerns of older people, for example, collected stories about “old stuff”. Their charity shops are, after all, full of unwanted things that people donated. Little time capsules, memory repositories, heirlooms.
Be a hoarder
Practice
How many words do you find in this post that describe people who keep or like old things? How many words describe “stuff”? And how many words mean “to give away”? Can you think of any others? How many synonyms do you know for “old”?