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Conference thebay::joyoflex

Title:The Joy of Lex
Notice:A Notes File even your grammar could love
Moderator:THEBAY::SYSTEM
Created:Fri Feb 28 1986
Last Modified:Mon Jun 02 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1192
Total number of notes:42769

1128.0. "Purloined letter" by PEKING::SULLIVAND (Not gauche, just sinister) Mon Jan 09 1995 08:58

    I just _know_ one of you erudite noters will be able to answer this:
    
    A couple of times in the works of the late Robert A Heinlein he refers
    to "the old purloined letter trick". I've seen this referred to
    elsewhere, as well.
    
    What does it mean ? I'm sort of assuming it means to interfere with
    someone's mail...
    
    
T.RTitleUserPersonal
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1128.1I hav no id a what this m ans...LJSRV2::KALIKOWPentium: Intel's Blew-Chip SpecialMon Jan 09 1995 09:041
    ...P rhaps it r f rs to som  sort of k yboard probl m?  Hop  this h lps.
1128.2SEND::PARODIJohn H. Parodi DTN 381-1640Mon Jan 09 1995 09:537
    
    No, it means "to hide by misdirection." "The Purloined Letter" was a
    short story (by Poe? it's been a long time...) in which a stolen letter
    was placed in a different envelope and stuffed in a book. Numerous
    searches of the room failed to reveal it, because of this trick.
    
    JP
1128.3Must be a variationRICKS::MIKEH::PHIPPSDTN 225.4959Mon Jan 09 1995 10:027
>    was placed in a different envelope and stuffed in a book. Numerous

  I thought it was left on the (fireplace) mantel in plain view.

  	mikeP

  ps That is mantel and not mantle... which is sort of a play on words.
1128.4Poe is an Italian riverPEKING::SULLIVANDNot gauche, just sinisterMon Jan 09 1995 10:065
    must have dismantled it, then...
    
    thanks v. much for your prompt replies
    Dave
    
1128.5SMURF::BINDERgustam vitareMon Jan 09 1995 10:077
    The old purloined letter trick is to conceal something in such an
    obvious place that no one would ever think to look for it there.  In
    the story, a critical letter disappeared and was believed stolen - but
    it had actually been merely "relocated" in its owner's very own study,
    and left in plain view.
    
    -dick
1128.6SMURF::BINDERgustam vitareMon Jan 09 1995 10:083
    Re .4
    
    Do they do potatoe farming on the Poe River?
1128.7DOCTP::BINNSMon Jan 09 1995 10:209
    ....and was the hiding of the letter not the result of a bet between two
    people about whether or not one could successfully hide the letter from
    the other, in the selected  room?
    
    In any case, the point was that seeker, too clever and systematic by
    half in his search, simply couldn't imagine it would be in plain view
    on the desk.
    
    Kit
1128.8You say tomatoe and I say...PEKING::SULLIVANDNot gauche, just sinisterMon Jan 09 1995 10:342
    Ah, the Dan Quayle spellchecker!
    
1128.9REGENT::BROOMHEADDon't panic -- yet.Mon Jan 09 1995 11:587
    To be fair to the searchers, the letter had been folded inside out,
    and a different `letter' was showing on the outside.
    
    It's by E.A. Poe, all right, and I think its name *is* "The Purloined
    Letter".
    
    							Ann B.
1128.10In my vi w, you folks ar all killjoys... :-)LJSRV2::KALIKOWPentium: Intel's Blew-Chip SpecialMon Jan 09 1995 13:051
    
1128.11PASTIS::MONAHANhumanity is a trojan horseMon Jan 09 1995 15:077
    	I think it is somewhere in G.K. Chesterton, "Where do you hide a
    leaf"? "In a forest".
    
    	The reference was to concealing a murder by a massacre. I don't
    have time to find the exact reference at the moment since I have a
    project manager irate about project deadlines. Back to hacking DCL
    scripts.
1128.12FREEZE, FILCHER!AKOCOA::MACDONALDTue Jan 31 1995 14:098
    To purloin is to steal. It can be used in a general sense, not just in
    the sense of "steal by indirection" or some such. So, for example, if
    someone mugged you on the street you could, if you were so inclined,
    (horizontally?) call out, STOP, PURLOINER!! One in a thousand might
    understand what you meant. These would be the people who had read AND
    retained their Po. 
    
    Bruce