Clutter — A Vocabulary Story
Sipho and the Carpet Mystery
Sipho's bedroom had a floor. Probably. Nobody had actually seen it since March.
"I need my recorder for assembly tomorrow," Sipho announced at dinner.
His mum raised one eyebrow, which was her way of saying good luck with that. "It's somewhere under all that clutter," she said. "Along with, I suspect, several missing spoons."
Clutter means a collection of things lying about in an untidy mess. It can also mean to fill a space with such a mess.
His big sister Thandi grinned. "And my blue hairband. And possibly a small explorer who went in last week and never came back."
After dinner, Sipho stood in his doorway and surveyed the situation. Comics, cushions, a snorkel, three odd shoes and half a jigsaw of a lighthouse rose in great hills across the room. The clutter had grown so tall near the wardrobe that it had its own weather.
He began to dig. He found a mouldy apple core (regrettable), Thandi's hairband (she'd want that), and a birthday card from his gogo with two pounds still inside (excellent).
An hour later, sweaty and triumphant, Sipho held the recorder above his head like a trophy. But something strange caught his eye. Beneath where the clutter had been, there was something flat. Something soft. Something... green?
"Mum!" he shouted down the stairs. "Come quick! There's grass in my room!"
His mum appeared, looked at the patch of floor, and pressed a hand to her heart.
"Sipho," she said gently, "that is your carpet. It's been green this whole time."
Sipho stared at it, astonished. He'd always thought it was grey.
Word Definition
clutter
meaning
a collection of things lying about in an untidy mess; to fill or cover something with an untidy mess of objects
synonyms
mess · jumble · muddle · litter · disorder
antonyms
order · tidiness
example sentence
The desk was hidden beneath a pile of clutter.