Squirm

Seeing all the worms wriggling on the corpse made me squirm all over.

Don't squirm, the doctor told patient before sticking a scary-looking needle into his arm.

A good translator is one who, akin to a worm, can squirm with delight around in the author's brain mass, and leave through the tongue to have its taste impressions confirmed, and then leave well-formed traces on paper line after line, sheet after sheet, until the last page is done — and he once again returns to his former self, and as a member of the smallest and least respected low-salary group, signs up yet again to exert his effort for God's representative on earth, the publishers.

Yanni managed to squirm out of Skura's grip.

At the cafe the rainy day after Halloween of 2021, Hans the Netherlander mentioned to me that Italian food was "acquired taste" for him. He mentioned the method of tenderizing octopus and the way the ink complimented the dish. I mentioned the black squid ink spaghetti. I said that I liked all seafood, including octopus, squid, and cuttlefish, which made him squirm. Then, I mentioned that I liked moussaka, a Greek lasagna-type dish with eggplants. Hans said that as a Netherlander, he liked "plain meat and potatoes." But Netherlanders do eat raw herring.

My neighbours, the Wongs, who are multiracial from Fiji, seem intimidated by, and simultaneously jealous of, Latinate culture. Once a British colony, Fiji was never a "donkey" as was my homeland, the Philippines. I suspect that many Anglophones with less than a university education still squirm at long acrolectal Greco-Latin words in English, and they try to settle in their basilectal Anglo-Saxon speech. Tangentially, I much admire French-influenced paradises like Tahiti and Mayotte. Maybe, the Wongs should learn Dutch.

You're going to squirm like a bug when they torture you.

You squirm for a nut, yearn for treasure and still want to catch a starling with your hand.

I just want to see Tom squirm.

He started to squirm and resist.