I cannot find a conclusive refutation for “spinster,” however. So far as I can learn, its parts do mean what they appear to mean, but I haven’t found any really compelling explanation for the particular association between spinning and unweddedness.

I wondered why on earth anyone would deliberately singe the ends of their hair — sounds like a dangerous procedure — but google seems to claim that it helps with split ends. Wouldn’t trimming be easier and safer?

Boy, in this day and age of instant answers on the internet, the thought of sitting down to write and mail a letter to be published in a later edition of a monthly magazine (and asking questions such as how to “remove ice-cream stains from [a] silk frock”) seems so foreign.

As to spinsters, my wife and her siblings were always amused that when their mother was married, before her 20th birthday, her wedding certificate described her status before marriage as “spinster.”

I came late to the party, but I too thought it amusing. : )