Today's word is eavesdropping
I love to find out where words and phrases we often use come from, I just find it fascinating. The word eavesdropping came up in conversation today, and I was curious as to where it came from.
Henry the Eighth's palace outside London is called Hampton Court Palace. Here, in the eaves of the Great Hall, are small faces carved into the oak beams which lean at an angle of 45 degrees to the ground. These are known as 'Eaves Droppers'. Henry was known to be a strong ruler and often put spies in crowds of people to listen in to conversations. He wanted his staff (who slept in the Great Hall between banquets and would lie on straw looking up at the eaves) to know that he or his people would be listening at all times.
Labels: books, opinion, writing
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SF Examiner, July 21, 1969
I acquired this paper last night at a charity auction and while it has little actual value, it is absolutely fascinating to read and see pictures from not only the obvious story, but just about every article in there. It's pretty amazing how in 40 years that while we're practically from another world, some things are still the same.
Labels: books, opinion
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Moby Dick
About halfway through reading my copy of Moby Dick I was invited on a river rafting trip and what better book to bring along than Moby Dick! Well my book was heavily water logged during the trip and I thought destroyed, but when I let it dry out completely, the pages weren't stuck together as I would have thought and I was able to read it just fine. Well I've always thought that incident gave this particular book a ton of character, most especially because of what book it is of course; and in a semi-related event, when I later brought home my kayak, I named her the Pequod. 
Labels: books
PermaLink / Posted by: Tony
