Word of the Day: frottage

frottage (n) [fraw-tahzh]

(1) A visual-arts technique of obtaining an image by rubbing chalk, charcoal, graphite, etc. over a piece of paper covering a flat but 3D surface, such as a leaf.

(2) Sexual stimulation and satisfaction by rubbing against something, such as another human.

"EPPIS (to Moribund, his yes-man) What to do? Here I am, two years over schedule on an eight-week shoot, and my lead actor, Roy Reflex, gets busted for frottage at the Gap. Is it a wonder my ulcer's the size of a flapjack?"
--Woody Allen, "Caution: Falling Moguls"

My mother has a tiny ulcer. She used to make pancakes for us for dinner -- we often ate breakfast foods, such as scrambled eggs, for dinner. When I was a kid, I would occasionally "rub" coins, leaves, etc., with paper and a pencil. It's hard to imagine, now, having the free, unstructured time to do something like that -- just because I felt like it, not because I had to or someone told me to.