meaning of "numbling"

Question

It will be almost a month since you wrote to me and you have possibly
forgotten your state of mind (I doubt it though). You seem the same as
always, and being you, hate every minute of it. Don’t! Learn to say
“Fuck You” to the world once in a while. You have every right to. Just
stop thinking, worrying, looking over your shoulder, wondering,
doubting, fearing, hurting, hoping for some easy way out, struggling,
grasping, confusing, itching, scratching, mumbling, bumbling,
grumbling, humbling, stumbling, numbling, rambling, gambling,
tumbling, scumbling, scrambling, hitching, hatching, bitching,
moaning, groaning, honing, boning, horse-shitting, hair-splitting,
nit-picking, piss-trickling, nose sticking, ass-gouging,
eyeball-poking, finger-pointing, alleyway-sneaking, long waiting,
small stepping, evil-eyeing, back-scratching, searching, perching,
besmirching, grinding, grinding, grinding away at yourself. Stop it
and just

This is from the first part of Sol LeWitt's letter to Eva Hesse.
I couldn't find the meaning of numbling in any dictionaries. Is it a kind of wordplay? If so, what does it mean?

Andrew Leach · Accepted Answer

This seems simply to be a misreading of handwriting. Every word has a meaning. Even scumbling is not a nonsense word.

The first letter of both those words could be an r which would make rambling preceded by rumbling. In fact, to make the first three letters on that line num seems not to be possible as there are not enough strokes for it.
Rumbling seems far more likely. It doesn't appear anywhere else in that paragraph, and provides a neat bridge between stumbling (and all the other -umbling words) and rambling.
(The extract of the handwritten letter comes from the OP reference on lettersofnote.com)

meaning of "numbling"

One Answer

Add your own answers!

Ask a Question