EAVESDROP
Wild Word Friday!
Once upon a time, the English had a law that required a homebuilder to get a permit before he could build eaves that allowed water to drip on land owned by someone else. Not only were eaves sometimes a controversial matter in ancient England, in the 1600s they gave us the verb EAVESDROP, which originally (dating from the 9th Century) referred to water dripping from the eaves.
According to THE MERRIAM-WEBSTER NEW BOOK OF WORD HISTORIES, an EAVESDROPper was someone who stood within the shelter of the eaves of a house to listen to what people inside were saying. We certainly updated the whole process when the party-line telephone came into being. And now with all the social networking, it’s easier than ever to EAVESDROP. I guess EAVESDROPping is just a natural human inclination. I wonder what they called it back when people lived in caves.
Do you remember the days of the party-line telephone?
Blessings!
Sue
