Do You Hear What I Hear?
I can't force you, but I wish people would go to my archives. When I started I think I wrote a bit more freely, in part because I felt that no-one was reading. But now you can.
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What is the most awkward, or striking, or disturbing thing that you ever overheard?
The top of my list includes the time I was in a West Side Shtiebel. Two guys were talking pretty loudly in front of me. Apparently they hadn't seen eachother for years. The first thing they did was exchange names. But one of these guys had a different last name than in his past! He explained, loudly enough for anyone in the vicinity to hear, that he had changed his name because he had totally broken with his past and started a new life...
What's the correct spelling for eachother? Why does spell check always call me on my spelling?
Next might be the guy in Kosher Delight who embarrassed the woman he was with by loudly announcing his private hopes for their night. She then loudly and sarcastically thanked him for saying this for all to hear.
As opposed to the earlier examples, there have been cases where the speaker looks in my direction, knows I can hear, but seems to not care and then goes on. When I was about 11, I was redoing the bedrock of our front yard's rose garden. Across the street a recently divorced neighbor and his friend spoke robustly. The friend asked my neighbor if it was wise to speak that way publicly. And the neighbor said, "why not? who can hear?" He glanced my way as he said it.

2 Comments:
I heard a peice on NPR once in which an Iranian woman was speaking about the American notion of privacy vs. the Iraqi notion. She said that she was once on a beach and was obviously eavesdropping on an interesting conversation by some teenage girls about the boys that they liked. As she was thoroughly enjoying the entertainment, one of them shot her a nasty look and told her to mind her own business. She responded, if you don' want me to hear, why are you talking so loud. She explained to the audiences that in Iran, everything that is private is veiled and walled off. If something is able to be seen, it is public property. She commented that she had a very hard time navigating the "invisible walls" that Americans put up regarding their private and public space.
Good point. Thanks.
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