Dust bunny 1872297 225269209 2008-07-12T20:16:37Z 69.221.174.77 /* Popular culture */ [[Image:Dust bunnies.jpg|230px|right|Dust Bunnies]] {{wiktionarypar|dust bunny}} '''Dust bunnies''' (often one word, '''dustbunnies''') are little clumps of dust that form under [[furniture]] and in corners that are not cleaned regularly. They are made of [[hair]], [[wikt:lint|lint]], dead [[skin]], [[dust]], and sometimes light rubbish and debris, and are held together by [[electrostatics|static electricity]] and [[felt]]-like-entanglement. In some regions of Britain, dust bunnies are sometimes called '''beggar's velvet'''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cheshirelittlefolk.co.uk/Old%20dialect.htm|title=Old Cheshire Dialect|work=cheshirelittlefolk.co.uk}}</ref> Dust bunnies are frequently a source of amusement by making out that they are actual living creatures formed of dust, attested to by the many websites on the care and feeding of dust bunnies.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dustbunnycentral.com/DustBunny.htm|title=Dust Bunnies and Genealogy|work=dustbunnycentral.com|first=Lisa|last=Williamsen}}</ref> Many [[cartoon]]s reference dust bunnies, and parents often give tongue-in-cheek warnings to their children that dust bunnies will haunt them if they do not clean their rooms, not unlike [[Santa Claus]] giving lumps of coal to naughty children. However, they can actually be harmful when they house [[house dust mite|dust mites]] or other [[parasites]]. A Dustbunny Cleaner has been invented. It consists of a [[robot]]ic ball with an electrostatic sleeve that rolls about under furniture collecting dustbunnies and other material.[http://www.mydustbunny.com/about_dustbunny.html] Dust bunnies are harmful to [[electronics]], as they can seriously obstruct air flow through [[CPU]] heat sinks, severely raising temperatures and shortening the life of [[Electronics|electronic]] components. ==Popular culture== {{Trivia|date=October 2007}} *In the [[20th Century Fox]] release of the Japanese [[anime]] film ''[[My Neighbor Totoro]]'', the phrase ''dust bunnies'' is used to translate ''Makkuro Kurosuke'', a kind of animated dirt/[[soot]] that inhabits abandoned buildings. A more literal translation would be ''pitch-black blackies''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/totoro/faq.html#kuro|title=Totoro FAQ: What are the Dustbunnies?|work=nausicaa.net}}</ref> *Loonette the clown has live dust bunnies living under her couch on ''[[The Big Comfy Couch]]'', which actually look like bunnies. Her doll Molly believs in thier existance but Loonette does not. *Dust bunnies were featured in an episode of the Nicktoon [[Rugrats]], and was shown in Season 6. *In an episode of [[Frasier]] entitled [[To Tell the Truth (Frasier)|To Tell the Truth]], [[Niles Crane|Niles]] notes that there are dust bunnies under [[Frasier Crane|Frasier]]'s piano. *On ''[[Newhart]]'', Joanna Loudon was afraid of dust bunnies. *In the game [[Beyond Zork]] they are a type of enemy. *In the game [[Civilization II: Test of Time]], they are creatures made up of dust held together by a type of fungus that live on a dead, moon-like world called Naumachia. These "bunnies" closely resemble North American [[tumbleweed]] and have been found, accidentally, to be edible. Naumachia also has vast "seas" of dust suspended in [[Brownian motion]], among other strange phenomena. *Dust Bunnies are also referred to as Dust Monkeys. *In the cartoon [[Mr. Bogus]] the dust bunnies are called Dirt Dudes. *In a deleted scene of [[The Secret (The Office episode)]], Dwight warns the audience not to be fooled by the phrase "dust bunnies". *In her series of Ghost Hunter novels, [[Jayne Ann Krentz]] depicts a species of 6-legged 'dust bunnies' as loyal pets. *Dust bunnies are portrayed as real bunnies in a [Green Planet] [http://www.greenplanet.franciscoloyola.com/2007/05/03/2007-05-03/] Comic. *In the United States Military, dust bunnies are referred to as "ghost turds". *In episode 22 of the series [[Two and a Half Men]], Alan is sleepwalking. He is moving the vacuum cleaner around that isn't turned on, producing vacuum cleaner noises himself. When Charlie asks him what he's doing, Alan explains he's cleaning up the poo from dustbunnies. *In her book ''High Tide in Tucson,'' [[Barbara Kingsolver]] said she doesn't have dust bunnies, she has dust buffaloes. ==References == <references/> [[Category:Waste]] [[de:Staubmaus]] [[no:Hybelkanin]] [[sv:Dammråtta]]