Amaroq wrote:cthia wrote:I remember several incidences when Honor was listening to someone talk, yet preoccupied. She would decide to listen half heartedly with the intention to replay the entire conversation later. Is there textev stating what that ability is? I seem to remember something. I don't think textev stated that she had a photographic, or eidetic memory or something similar. Can anyone tac-witch-it?
I think this is the relevant quote from HAE:She floated in zero-gee, and the surface of her brain listened attentively to everything Schubert said. She knew she'd be able to replay the entire conversation verbatim later, but for now her inner thoughts were busy with what she'd already learned about Project Trojan Horse.
It does seem like a unique ability. I know I couldn't do it without actually listening to the conversation. Maybe it's some sort of Meyerdahl byproduct?
Michael Everett wrote:
It seems to be a variation on a Husband Skill that allows a man to think about whatever he wants while simultaneously subconsciously scanning what his wife is saying, thus alerting him to problematical statements like "They can do it in pink" or "it was really very cheap". At that point, the subconscious pulls up the previous couple of sentences and knocks on the mind's door.
In Terry Pratchett's book "Thud!", it is noted that Sir Samuel Vimes is a noted expert at this skill, having developed it to the point that he can offer relevant opinions without actually paying attention to what was going on!
Sybil (his wife) found it to be a fascinating phenomenon...
All of my sisters, my fiancée and my mom called that male-selective-hearing. To any creature that has two sets of lips, you gotta learn to filter out the noise.
My female friends are so going to flood my email for that one. It was just a joke. True. But joke.