Last night I had the pleasure of attending Davison #236 for an Entered Apprentice degree. My hat is off to the Junior Deacon who got it right ..............cowans or eavesdroppers......more often than not you hear cowans and eavesdroppers.
The word is definitely or not and.....but my question is why.........and just what exactly is a cowan? The eavesdropper is pretty easy to figure out.....maybe.
By definition a cowan is one who works as a mason without having served a regular apprenticeship....the origin of the word can be traced back to coward.....interesting.....and cowan has Scottish roots. There is a note which indicates among Freemasons that cowan is a cant term for pretender, interloper. A cant term is a word or phraseology used by a particular profession, institution, etc. Looking further an interloper is one who interferes or meddles in the affairs of others...one who intrudes into a region, field, or trade without a proper license.
Eavesdropper is one who listens secretly to a private conversation....an archaic term....to eavesdrop on.
In conclusion my pet peeve is that 95% of the time the word and is used and it should be or....the second part of my pet peeve is why are we looking out for one or the other.....and I think I just answered my own question while we want to keep away both cowans and eavesdroppers the instructions are to watch for cowans or eavesdroppers....so one may be posing as the other or the same person could be both a cowan and an eavesdropper.....but we are to guard against cowans or eavesdroppers........as you can tell even the most simple phrase we've heard a thousand times over has a very deep meaning......wow.....I need a coffee now. Have fun traveling my brothers !!!!!
1 comment:
AND I AGREE OR YOU COULD SAY I CONCUR CANT INTERESTING I REMEMBER A FRIEND WORKING ON A CAR WITH HIS BOY TELLING HIS SON BOY THERE AINT NO SUCHA WORD AS CAN'T
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