During last summer we attended several country fairs and every time we would get caught out when someone asked, “Worry beads, what do you do with them?” For those of you who have had worry beads you would probably know what to show someone but as the leading authority on worry beads in this country we were left slightly embarrassed. The first words that came to mind were “use” or “play with” but rightly so the questioner would look even more confused. I would then result to using the “fiddle with” phrase, however this only resulted in a laugh or raised eyebrows implying that “fiddle with” is a naughty thing to do. In the end the question was never answered with words but a demonstration. Summer has drifted away and the question has remained unanswered until now.
To solve the problem we needed to find a word or phrase that people could understand but did not have the dubious connection. I started by checking out what the Greeks call worry bead use and unfortunately they were no help. They have used them in their culture for hundreds of years but worry bead use is described at that, use or play with, which is where I started with.
Internet dictionaries and thesauruses were opened and the solution was found very easily. Let’s have a drum roll…….
“To TWIDDLE”…….. Definition: to turn about or play with lightly or idly, especially with the fingers; twirl, to play or trifle idly with something, fiddle. Or another dictionary states; to twirl or fiddle (with), often in an idle way, to do nothing, be unoccupied, to turn, twirl, or rotate.
I hope you can see how the word is so appropriate.