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About this quote

What does it mean?
A woman removing lint shows she claims ownership of the person.
In plain terms
Picking lint off someone shows she owns them.
What can you take from it?
Small gestures can show ownership.

Where it applies

  • relationship dynamics
  • body language
  • courtship

Putting it to work

  • reading relationships
  • analyzing gestures
  • writing dialogue

Questions to consider

  • What do small gestures mean?
  • How do you show care?

Another view

Not all touching gestures imply ownership.

More from O. Henry

  1. You can't appreciate home till you've left it, money till it's spent, your wife till she's joined a women's club, nor Old Glory till you see it hanging on a br…

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  2. A story with a moral appended is like the bill of a mosquito. It bores you, and then injects a stinging drop to irritate your conscience.

    Permalink to quote #28
  3. History is bright and fiction dull with homely men who have charmed women.

    Permalink to quote #25

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