as a verb

'george here doesn't cotton
too much to body talk. paunchy isn't happy when the talk
moves to muscles. how much you weigh?' - 'martha'

poor george and poor nameless recipient of martha's query. 'who's afraid of virginia woolf' may be wicked but it is also one brilliant play. the writer, edward albee, seems to have had much to gripe about and poured all that vitriol down 'martha's' throat only to have her splash it all over those in her midst.

the use of 'cotton' as something other than a fabric is long gone. some think it came from the notion of cotton sticking to the fingers, or in making hats, 'to cotton well', is when the wool and other materials work well together.

photo: elizabeth taylor as 'martha' and george segal as 'you' in the scary great 1966 film version.