plewd

Coined by Charles Rice.

plewd (plural plewds)

1. A stylized sweat drop drawn on the air around a character's head, as if it were coming out of the character, as used in cartoons, especially comic strips.
   • 1975, Mort Walker, Backstage at the Strips:

     Plewds are the little drops of sweat that shoot off people to indicate exertion, embarrassment, fear, or what-have-you.

   • 1980, Mort Walker, The lexicon of comicana, back cover blurb:

     In the early 30's, a humorist named Charles Rice attached labels to certain cartoon devices. He called sweat drops "plewds" and the dust clouds behind a running person "briffits." This inspired Mort Walker to do some further research and, in 1964, he produced an article for the National Cartoonists Society magazine titled, "Let's Get Down To Grawlixes." It was a tongue in cheek spoof of the plethora of "comicana" found in most comic strips.

   • 2001, Steve Edgell, Brad! Brooks, Tim Pilcher, The complete cartooning course, page 50:

     A variation on a theme is the radiating sweat beads, or "plewds," shown when someone is working hard or is very worried.

   • 2003 September 11, <jgmcle...@aol.com>, “where did &*#$ come from?”, in rec.arts.comics.strips (Usenet newsgroup):

     Now add just *one* little plewd coming off the head and, poof, that's one nervous little guy

   • 2007, Anita Y. Wonder, Bloodstain pattern evidence: objective approaches and case applications, page 326:

     The first thing usually taught in bloodstain pattern workshops is that the plewd is not an accurate depiction of blood behavior

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