Thursday 2 December 2021

Give me a clew


Charles Dickens did not like being laughed at, I heard the other day.

The nautical term, 'four sheets to the wind' refers to ropes and not sails as you might expect. 'Sheets' is the nautical term for ropes.

The word 'clue' also refers to ropes. It began when Theseus entered the Minotaur's maze and left a string or cord behind him so he could find his way back out. The original word was spelt 'clew'. 

I learned all sorts of other things last week, but cannot remember what they were. I will probably wake up in the middle of the night and remember them, then I will phone my friends and impart the knowledge. 

For my friends, it will be like the scene in all those movies where the detective is lying - fast asleep - in bed next to a beautiful woman after exhausting himself with (we assume) several hours of energetic passion. The phone on the bedside table begins to softly ring and continues to do so until a blind hand appears from beneath a satin sheet and fumbles at the handset, almost knocking it off the cradle.

In a voice saturated with sleep, he answers it, then - a little more animated through anger - he says, "Do you know what time it is?"

He remains prone whilst listening to a voice on the end of the line for a few seconds, then sits bolt up, now fully awake.

"What?" he exclaims loudly, "You mean to say that the word 'clue' is related the ancient myth of the Minotaur and actually refers to a rope or a length of cord?!"

The beautiful woman next to him begins to stir restlessly then drowsily asks, "Who is it... what do they want?"

"It's nothing honey. Go back to sleep", he replies as he quietly replaces the receiver back in the cradle.

He remains sitting upright for a while, thoughtfully staring to one side of the camera as he takes in the full meaning of what he has just heard.

Can you imagine it?

25 comments:

  1. Nearly but not quite how Cinema Paradiso starts.

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    1. I only came in halfway through Cinema Paradiso.

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  2. So, you could have called me in the middle of the night with this very important information. Instead you chose to put it in a blog post for all the world to see. Seriously disappointed. Seriously.

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    1. Ah, you say that now in the cold light of day...

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  3. Sounds like a booty call of epic proportion.

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    1. You seem to be thinking along the same lines as Avus below.

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  4. I enjoyed your, "He remains upright for a while," obviously one exteremely virile secret agent......

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    1. You have forced me to add a word to that line, you dirty old sod.

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  5. These are thoughts that a lady of my advanced age should not be having.

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    1. This post was never meant to inspire thoughts like that Weave.

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  6. How come that German TV detectives are all old - and IF a woman lies beside them, it is their dear old spouse?
    At the moment I watch the "Complete DVD-box"of "Der Kommissar" with Erik Ode (not to be mistaken with "Derek" with Horst Tappert, who seemed to be better known in the Netherlands and maybe other countries - and was dethroned when they found out that he was involved with the Nazis).
    "Der Kommissar" is fun, my parents watched it, and in the beginning it depicts my earliest youth, when I was ten or eleven - and when the world was very different from now!
    The fashion is that which my cousin wore: highly teased hair like a balloon, much hair spray, kitten-heals and the first hint of miniskirts.
    The Kommissar drinks a lot of Cognac - during work! - his wife is - a housewife, nothing against that, but he says to her in the first series: "You are stupid, but nice" - and he means it. He and his - of course male - assistants smoke where ever they like - without asking if it might disturb anyone. The cars are cute!
    The series is NOT dumb, it is quite well done (in black and white) - but shows how much the world has changed.

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    1. My best German friend loves ‘The Avengers’ original.

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  7. What the dickens were you on about?

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    1. Perhaps someone will give you a sense of humour for Christmas.

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    2. Oh Lord help me, that was meant to be a joke. I think you need the same.

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    3. "what the dickens" I took hours thinking that up. Oh well

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    4. I mean one that doesn’t come from Poundland.

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    5. I had such great expectations.

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  8. There is actually a clew app for the visually impaired so that they can make their way back to their starting point on Apple devices.

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    1. Is it two tin cans with a taught piece of string between them? That’s my iCan idea.

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    2. I knew that thing had potential!!

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  9. Spot on as usual. I so look forward to your posts. As Aristotle said,” literature should educate and entertain.” And you surely do both. Ann

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    1. I think you have just put off hundreds of schoolchildren who might have read my blog (as if).

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  10. That made me laugh. So maybe I'm not much like Dickens, though now I think of it, I guess he laughed too, just not at himself... mmmm... all very confusing.
    I like learning new things too.

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