2025-01-06
53 分钟You're listening to Away With Words, the show about language and how we use it.
I'm Grant Barrett.
And I'm Martha Barnett.
In the late 18th century, the English term mudlark was a rather grim one.
It referred to people who scavenged for usable debris in the cold, stinking,
tidal mud of a river because they didn't have any other means of income.
Today, mudlarking is more of a hobby,
and it's the subject of a book I'm really enjoying by Laura Maklum.
It's called Mudlark in search of London's past along the River Thames.
It turns out that much of the River Thames is title,
which means that twice a day it pulls back to reveal its secrets.
And Maklum has found all kinds of things over the years,
everything from ancient Roman jewelry to modern engraved wedding rings.
And you got to wonder how somebody lost that or maybe they got angry and threw it in the river but there's so much history in each one of those objects.
One of my favorite examples is the fact that she's always finding these little clay pipes.
So I'm talking about tiny clay pipes.
And the reason they were tiny is
because tobacco was initially very expensive when it was first brought to Britain.
And she also finds a lot of Elizabethan style pins
because in those days everybody was having to pin their clothes.