I learned a word today I didn’t know:  Woolgathering.

It is the “indulgence in idle daydreaming.”  Yar.  I am a Woolgatherer, maybe from a long line of Woolgatherers. (see image above).

As Webster notes: “Woolgathering” once literally referred to the act of gathering loose tufts of wool that had gotten caught on bushes and fences as sheep passed by. Woolgatherers must have seemed to wander aimlessly, gaining little for their efforts, for in the mid-16th century “woolgathering” began to appear in figurative phrases such as “my wits (or my mind) went a-woolgathering” — in other words, “my mind went wandering aimlessly.” From there, it wasn’t long before the word “woolgathering” came to suggest the act of indulging in purposeless mind-wandering.

Splains a lot.