dspaul
Okay, so like most people here i snickered at the line about “the smuts” in today’s Dracula Daily. Then I looked up what “the smuts” actually were. In this context, “smuts” are flakes of coal ash falling from the sky. Apparently this was a major problem in 19th century London! The Industrial Revolution was nuts.
dduane
You can get smuts from a badly-behaved kerosene stove, too. And from what comes out of the smokestacks of steam trains.
The word is still in use in Ireland (and I suspect the UK, too) to describe the little floating bits of soot in the air from any incomplete fuel combustion.
airyairyaucontraire
I read a book called something like What Austen Ate And Dickens Knew which was all about the small details of everyday life that are mentioned in 19th century novels but hard to figure out for modern readers; they were so commonplace that they didn’t need to be explained in the text and remain unclear from context. I remember there was a whole bit about smuts and what a hassle they were in terms of sticking to your face, hair and clothes. One ladies’ advice book recommended having at least three hairbrushes because when you brushed your hair at the end of the day, there would be so many smuts in the hairbrush you’d need to wash it. So on any given day you’d have one brush dry and ready to use, one brush in the process of drying out from being washed, and one kept in readiness to lend to a friend.
