• What is a "tramp's whisker"?

    From pmarquis69@gmail.com@21:1/5 to wall...@kmsi.net on Sat Dec 14 07:05:01 2019
    On Tuesday, July 3, 2001 at 4:05:09 PM UTC-3, wall...@kmsi.net wrote:
    In Laura Smith's "My Bonny" (a marvelous, powerful song, BTW) is the line "I've got a tramp's whisker that tells me you still care."

    It's driving me nuts! I could swear I've come across the term "tramp's whisker" somewhere before, but I can't think where. Ideas, anyone?
    Please?

    /kenw

    Ken Wallewein
    Calgary, Alberta
    kenw@kmsi.net

    I prefer "tramp's whisper." The poetic possibilities are enormous, including a lonely heart carrying the heavy weight of broken love who encounters one suffering even more than she. When our lonely heart bends to deposit a coin in the cup of the tramp,
    or whatever scenario we choose, he looks up to catch her eye, at which point she hears his whisper inside her head and she knows that 'he still cares.' don't ya just love poetry!

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  • From hubops@ccanoemail.ca@21:1/5 to pmarquis69@gmail.com on Sat Dec 14 12:26:43 2019
    On Sat, 14 Dec 2019 07:05:01 -0800 (PST), pmarquis69@gmail.com wrote:

    On Tuesday, July 3, 2001 at 4:05:09 PM UTC-3, wall...@kmsi.net wrote:
    In Laura Smith's "My Bonny" (a marvelous, powerful song, BTW) is the line
    "I've got a tramp's whisker that tells me you still care."

    It's driving me nuts! I could swear I've come across the term "tramp's
    whisker" somewhere before, but I can't think where. Ideas, anyone?
    Please?

    /kenw

    Ken Wallewein
    Calgary, Alberta
    kenw@kmsi.net

    I prefer "tramp's whisper." The poetic possibilities are enormous,
    including a lonely heart carrying the heavy weight of broken love
    who encounters one suffering even more than she.
    When our lonely heart bends to deposit a coin in the cup of the tramp,
    or whatever scenario we choose, he looks up to catch her eye,
    at which point she hears his whisper inside her head and she knows
    that 'he still cares.' don't ya just love poetry!


    ... some discussion here :

    https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=24235

    John T.

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  • From john.willman.ca@gmail.com@21:1/5 to hub...@ccanoemail.ca on Wed Apr 22 08:11:15 2020
    On Saturday, December 14, 2019 at 12:23:40 PM UTC-5, hub...@ccanoemail.ca wrote:
    On Sat, 14 Dec 2019 07:05:01 -0800 (PST), pmarquis69@gmail.com wrote:

    On Tuesday, July 3, 2001 at 4:05:09 PM UTC-3, wall...@kmsi.net wrote:
    In Laura Smith's "My Bonny" (a marvelous, powerful song, BTW) is the line >> "I've got a tramp's whisker that tells me you still care."

    It's driving me nuts! I could swear I've come across the term "tramp's
    whisker" somewhere before, but I can't think where. Ideas, anyone?
    Please?

    /kenw

    Ken Wallewein
    Calgary, Alberta
    kenw@kmsi.net

    I prefer "tramp's whisper." The poetic possibilities are enormous, >including a lonely heart carrying the heavy weight of broken love
    who encounters one suffering even more than she.
    When our lonely heart bends to deposit a coin in the cup of the tramp,
    or whatever scenario we choose, he looks up to catch her eye,
    at which point she hears his whisper inside her head and she knows
    that 'he still cares.' don't ya just love poetry!


    ... some discussion here :

    https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=24235

    John T.

    You have to be a certain age to know what a tramp's whisker is. I'm 65 and happen to know. When I was a child my brother showed me how to make crystal radio. It involved a piece of galena, a mineral that could be used to make a primitive semiconductor,
    and a very fine wire - the finer the better. You would attach one end of a high impedance headphone to the wire (the ones that airmen used in the second world war) and the other end to the crystal. As you dragged the fine wire over the crystal, you would
    pick up radio stations. Voila, a crystal radio.

    To the point. The fine wire was referred to as a "tramp's whisker"

    If I remember correctly; "I have a tramp's whisker that says you still care". It' is a very poetic statement! She had a means of reading his hidden thoughts from a distance, like a radio signal.

    John W. Ottawa

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  • From john.willman.ca@gmail.com@21:1/5 to All on Wed Apr 22 08:22:11 2020
    You have to be a certain age to know what a tramp's whisker is. I'm 65 and happen to know. When I was a child my brother showed me how to make crystal radio. It involved a piece of galena, a mineral that could be used to make a primitive semiconductor,
    and a very fine wire - the finer the better. You would attach one end of a high impedance headphone to the wire (the ones that airmen used in the second world war) and the other end to the crystal. As you dragged the fine wire over the crystal, you would
    pick up radio stations. Voila, a crystal radio.

    To the point. The fine wire was referred to as a "tramp's whisker"

    If I remember correctly; "I have a tramp's whisker that says you still care". It' is a very poetic statement! She had a means of reading his hidden thoughts from a distance, like a radio signal.

    John W. Ottawa

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    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Ian Jackson@21:1/5 to john.willman.ca@gmail.com on Thu Apr 23 22:26:05 2020
    In message <b7d23ea6-8bb9-4bc0-8c51-b0adabdf888b@googlegroups.com>, john.willman.ca@gmail.com writes
    You have to be a certain age to know what a tramp's whisker is. I'm 65
    and happen to know. When I was a child my brother showed me how to make >crystal radio. It involved a piece of galena, a mineral that could be
    used to make a primitive semiconductor, and a very fine wire - the
    finer the better. You would attach one end of a high impedance
    headphone to the wire (the ones that airmen used in the second world
    war) and the other end to the crystal. As you dragged the fine wire
    over the crystal, you would pick up radio stations. Voila, a crystal radio.

    To the point. The fine wire was referred to as a "tramp's whisker"

    If I remember correctly; "I have a tramp's whisker that says you still
    care". It' is a very poetic statement! She had a means of reading his
    hidden thoughts from a distance, like a radio signal.

    John W. Ottawa

    In the UK (and almost certainly worldwide, including the USA), this is
    known as a 'cat's whisker' (which may, or may not, be a more accurate description). I've never heard of the term 'tramp's whisker'.
    --
    Ian

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