The spider taketh hold with her hands

Someone told me a story about their little girl who spotteda cob web in the bathroom.  She flippedout and started screaming how the spider was going to come after her.  Her daddy told her that it was just a cobweband that there were no spiders and nothing would get her.  Crisis averted.  

She accepted that answer . . . for about twoseconds  . . . then she started carryingon about the "cob" was going to get her.

How do you explain thatone?

Well . . . what exactly isa cobweb?  Don’t ask me why, but I alwaysthought that a cobweb was a stringy version of a dust bunny . . . obviously Iwas misinformed.  It is, indeed, a spiderweb; although, nowadays, it used describe an unoccupied and defunct one.

So, what in the heck is a cob??  Well, cob is a very old word . . . from the16^th century . . . that is synonymous with spider.  It was derived from an even older word fromthe 14^th century . . . coppe. Coppe is short for atorcoppe which is literally means ‘poison-head’. 

So the little girl had every reason to freak out . . . itwas possible that a cob would come and get her.  EEK!