callmemadam (callmemadam) wrote,
callmemadam
callmemadam

What do you call visual earwigging?

I can’t think of a word for it. I’ve just been reading what Cornflower has to say about overhearing conversations about books or noticing what other people are reading. It is interesting; I used to love Bookish New Yorker’s ‘Seen on the subway’ feature when she was writing it. I’m inhibited though. When I was very small I was travelling somewhere with my parents, either on a bus or a tube, when I read out something from the back of someone’s newspaper and asked them about it. I got such a ticking off about what terribly bad manners it was to look at someone else’s paper that I still don’t do it.

Now the boot is on the other foot. I don’t get out much but when I do I tend to take my Kindle with me and it’s a real ice-breaker. ‘Ooh, may I look?’ Next thing I know I have an admiring little crowd around me while I expound its virtues and hot discussions start up about being able to store all those books on it compared with the pleasure of owning ‘real’ books. If a person is reading from a Kindle of course, no one knows what they’re reading, as Knife & Packer showed in the cartoon I used here. A market there for X-ray specs?
Tags: kindle
Subscribe

  • At the Market

    It’s been ages since I did one of these posts. I was up very early so decided to go down to the market. There were lots of sellers today; very few…

  • I spoke too soon

    I’ve just gone to Tesco online. There is not a single slot available until April! After this weekend I may be told to stay at home. WTF am I supposed…

  • Cheering up a wet Saturday or, not going to the market

    What fearsome weather! Gales, lashing rain, lights on all day. This morning I went to a charities’ fair, where I got the kinds of bargains I might…

  • Post a new comment

    Error

    switch
    default userpic

    Your reply will be screened

    Your IP address will be recorded 

    When you submit the form an invisible reCAPTCHA check will be performed.
    You must follow the Privacy Policy and Google Terms of use.
    Help
  • 9 comments