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11 Mar 18
Originally posted by @divegeesterSometimes you can't help but hear and listen...
Surreptitiously listening into a conversation you should not be privy to.
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11 Mar 18
Originally posted by @torunnEavesdroping isn't restricted to conversations people want to be private, basically any conversations going on around you. I do it all the time at work not so much elsewhere. People watching however i do enjoy.
You can pick up a lot of talk on trams and buses - couples, friends talking and cell phones of course - but most of it is not meant as confidential.
11 Mar 18
1 edit
Eavesdropping is not overhearing conversations being made in a public space, it is actively listening to a private conversation being made in a place where the conversarionalists consider themselves to be in private.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eavesdropping
I.e. historically, standing near the eaves of the roof where sound can carry from one room through the eaves to the next or outside.
A subsequent warning to the conversarionalists is “walls have ears”.
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11 Mar 18
Originally posted by @lemondropI believe the current term for chatroom eavesdropping is:
aren't forums and chat rooms the perfect places to eavesdrop?
also it's very hard not to eavesdrop when people are yakking on their cell phones
"Lurking". 😲
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11 Mar 18
early 17th century: back-formation from eavesdropper (late Middle English) ‘a person who listens from under the eaves,’ from the obsolete noun eavesdrop ‘the ground onto which water drips from the eaves,’ probably from Old Norse upsardropi, from ups ‘eaves’ + dropi ‘a drop.
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11 Mar 18
Originally posted by @trev33I too love people watching. I try to imagine one of two things about people I watch. 1: what kind of animal they remind me of and 2: what they might do (as in employment).
Eavesdroping isn't restricted to conversations people want to be private, basically any conversations going on around you. I do it all the time at work not so much elsewhere. People watching however i do enjoy.
11 Mar 18
2 edits
Originally posted by @great-big-steesI just look at how people look, and I amazed to think that we all look different, everyone of us. That keeps my mind busy at times. But I'm not so curious at what people say.
I too love people watching. I try to imagine one of two things about people I watch. 1: what kind of animal they remind me of and 2: what they might do (as in employment).
11 Mar 18
2 edits
Originally posted by @great-big-steesI like it when I can spot the dominant family feature like a certain shaped nose in a three generational group of daughter, mother and grandmother.
I too love people watching. I try to imagine one of two things about people I watch. 1: what kind of animal they remind me of and 2: what they might do (as in employment).
We have a webbed toe in our family. 😕