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Writers often operate in a similar way. But we focus more on what people say. Eavesdropping is a tool in the writer's jukebox. We need a new word for visual eavesdropping! Eyesdropping?

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It’s funny you wrote that because today I was actually doing just that, eavesdropping! Purposefully (gathering things people were saying for a potential piece). I’ve never don’t that before. You must tell me your secrets, I think there is an art to eavesdropping!

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I'm not sure how I do it. I'm a big dude so it's not like I can vanish. Maybe because I have good periphreal vision as a basketball I have a good writer's periphreal ears!

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Ha!

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And I love “eyes dropping.” Where does eavesdropping derive?

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From Merriam-Webster: "Originally this word had nothing to do with snooping.

Eavesdrop started off literally: first it referred to the water that fell from the eaves of a house, then it came to mean the ground where that water fell.

Eventually, eavesdropper described someone who stood within the eavesdrop of a house to overhear a conversation inside.

Over time, the word obtained its current meaning: "to listen secretly to what is said in private."

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May 29, 2023Liked by Liza Donnelly

I adore a good dictionary!

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Please use the word sex not gender! And you are right it doesn’t matter! Love your work!

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There is also “eaves - drawing” I think I heard it from

Sarah Shaw in a course in comic journalism. Writing down snippets of conversation to draw later. As you were planning to do.

I went to “eaves-draw” at a coffee shop in vancouver. I settled in only to discover that on this day - no one was speaking English - which I loved - I think I heard Hebrew, Spanish and Cantonese and an Eastern European language. So - I just sketched what I saw instead.

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May 29, 2023·edited May 29, 2023Author

I love that, eaves-drawing. And that you did not hear any English! Visuals communicate so well....

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