Comments on: You don’t have to be mad to live here

By: Expat Mum

Expat Mum — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 21:14:16 +0000

I must admit, I sometimes do that if it’s going to be an unpleasant conversation – but not in public. At least I hope nobody else hears.
It still causes a minor freeze when I see people walking along having a full-blown (and usually loud) conversation on a hands-free phone. You never know whether it’s a bona fide crazy person.

By: Iota

Iota — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 19:18:46 +0000

Maybe she was an actress, rehearsing lines on the way to an audition?

Or maybe it’s just New York.

By: Brooklyn

Brooklyn — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 17:54:26 +0000

“I think that while Brooklyn may be correct, it is a pedantic distinction.”

I respectfully disagree.

“Eavesdropping” is an invasion of privacy because it is an attempt to listen to a conversation which is ostensibly private.

“Ovehearing” is not invasion of privacy. A conversation held in public is just that, public.

By: Apsidal

Apsidal — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 17:31:02 +0000

I think that while Brooklyn may be correct, it is a pedantic distinction. I recall that a decade or so ago there was one of those ephemeral artforms in which out of a single line of overheard conversation a whole, bizarre scenario could be reconstructed. By way of example was the guy passing me as I entered an office building saying to his mate: “…and I never did find out what she did with the cylinder head…” Such isolated droplets were indeed called “eavesdroppings”. They are worthy of a revival.

Incidentally, my mother used to do exactly the same as this woman – rehearsing an anticipated row. This included preparing for the expected riposte with an appropriate rebuttal. She sometimes betrayed this tendancy by – forgetting that the riposte had not in fact yet been articulated – starting her attack with “…and anyway…”

By: Brooklyn

Brooklyn — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:35:21 +0000

“As I’ve mentioned before, this city’s residents have faulty volume control (they really should have bought the extended warranty), and as a result, eavesdropping is less accidental and more an accidental necessity caused by commuting daily.”

If you’re not holding trying to listen to a private conversation (such as by holding your ear against a closed door)but just hearing a conversation in the open,it’s not “eavesdropping,” it’s “overhearing.”