# "See what a piece of eggshell I have found you." **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 18, 2005, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/see-what-a-piece-of-eggshell-i-have-found-you/308844 "2005-06-18T22:13:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hoops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoops/32/6408_2.png) [@Hoops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoops)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2005, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/see-what-a-piece-of-eggshell-i-have-found-you/308844/1 "2005-06-18T22:13:03Z")
In Douglas Adams’ _So Long And Thanks For All The Fish_, there is an atypical romantic interlude involving Arthur Dent and newfound sweetheart Fenchurch learning to fly. Things are getting hot and heavy, and then she whispers in Arthur’s ear “See what a piece of eggshell I have found you.” 😕 Is this a genuine Britishism? Is it a joke that just goes over my head? It seems kind of romantic, I guess, if whispered in my ear by a suitable Fenchurch, but kind of odd. Something else I find odd is that in researching this (ie, Googling “see piece eggshell”), I found over twenty sites where the entire book is available to read on line or download as a PDF. Now, this is a somewhat popular book by a very popular writer, so I have a hard time figuring out how these sites avoid lawyerly attention. I mean, if a somewhat popular album by a very popular band were made widely available online, at static addresses as opposed to P2P and the like, those sites would be shut down pretty damn quick. Seems strange. Hmm, seems I’ve hijacked my own OP. Eggshell. ---
**Author:** ![BraheSilver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@BraheSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BraheSilver)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2005, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/see-what-a-piece-of-eggshell-i-have-found-you/308844/2 "2005-06-18T22:33:54Z")
I had the impression that she’d gotten the eggshell from a bird’s nest above, which meant that she had, indeed, learned to fly at that moment. ---
**Author:** ![neofishboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/neofishboy/32/444_2.png) [@neofishboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neofishboy)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2005, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/see-what-a-piece-of-eggshell-i-have-found-you/308844/3 "2005-06-19T01:19:08Z")
That’s exactly how I understood it. Still a deeply weird line, though. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/see-what-a-piece-of-eggshell-i-have-found-you/308844/4 "2005-06-20T12:51:52Z")
You’re jumping the gun. They don’t get to the hot & heavy part until the next chapter. At this point, Arthur is teaching Fenchurch how to fly. The secret to flying is to fall to the ground but get distracted right before you hit. So Arthur is flying, and Fenchurch is freaked out because she can’t fly. But she stands on his hands. Then Arthur lets go while she’s distracted by the bird’s nest, so distracted that she forgets to fall. The line isn’t Fenchurch in the throes of passion, but rather an illustration of how distracted she was – that she was flying and the only thing that she was paying attention to was the eggshell. Which, of course, is what you have to do if you’re going to fly. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Hoops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoops/32/6408_2.png) [@Hoops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoops)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/see-what-a-piece-of-eggshell-i-have-found-you/308844/5 "2005-06-21T06:41:29Z")
Aha, I think you guys are right. Adams only mentions once that Fenchurch sees something that might be a bird’s nest, then goes off into an extended riff about Arthur witnessing a bike theft. That provides his reason to forget to hit the ground, and by that time Fenchurch has been distracted by the eggshell she must have seen in the bird’s nest. Quite a nifty bit. I’ve always loved that sequence and was disappointed when, if I recall correctly, Adams later disavowed it as ‘adolescent’. But maybe that was when he was in one of his bitter stages (or on the other hand, maybe I’m just emotionally adolescent :)) ---
**Author:** ![Hoops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoops/32/6408_2.png) [@Hoops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoops)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/see-what-a-piece-of-eggshell-i-have-found-you/308844/6 "2005-06-21T07:01:20Z")
I meant to quote the passage in question (should’ve done so in the OP): > [@](#): > > She fixed her eyes very firmly on the guttering of the roof of the decrepit warehouse opposite which had been annoying her for weeks because it was clearly going to fall off and she wondered if anyone was going to do anything about it or whether she ought to say something to somebody, and didn’t think for a moment about the fact that she was standing on the hands of someone who wasn’t standing on anything at all. > > “Now,” said Arthur, “take your weight off your left foot.” > > She thought that the warehouse belonged to the carpet company who had their offices round the corner, and took the weight off her left foot, so she should probably go and see them about the gutter. > > “Now,” said Arthur, “take the weight off your right foot.” > > “I can’t.” > > “Try.” > > She hadn’t seen the guttering from quite this angle before, and it looked to her now as if as well as the mud and gunge up there might also be a bird’s nest. If she leaned forward just a little and took her weight off her right foot, she could probably see it more clearly. > > Arthur was alarmed to see that someone down in the alley was trying to steal her bicycle. He particularly didn’t want to get involved in an argument at the moment and hoped that the guy would do it quietly and not look up. > > He had the quiet shifty look of someone who habitually stole bicycles in alleys and habitually didn’t expect to find their owners hovering several feet above them. He was relaxed by both these habits, and went about his job with purpose and concentration, and when he found that the bike was unarguably bound by hoops of tungsten carbide to an iron bar embedded in concrete, he peacefully bent both its wheels and went on his way. > > Arthur let out a long-held breath. > > “See what a piece of eggshell I have found you,” said Fenchurch in his ear. And that’s the end of that chapter. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/see-what-a-piece-of-eggshell-i-have-found-you/308844/7 "2005-06-21T12:49:02Z")
**Hoops** , Arthur didn’t need the bike theft to distract him – when he jumped out the window he was so afraid of hitting the ground, that was enough to distract him from doing so. (According to the Hitchhikers’ books, the more you fly, the easier it becomes to achieve the necessary distraction.) He just wanted the thief not to look up because then the thief would have caused a scene and 1) Fenchurch would have been brought back to reality – and gravity, and 2) Arthur therefore wouldn’t have gotten laid. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![bog-host](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@bog-host](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bog-host)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2015, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/see-what-a-piece-of-eggshell-i-have-found-you/308844/8 "2015-12-03T05:32:27Z")
I’ve read the series at least a dozen times, looking to see if I find new connotations, meanings, inside jokes, and just because it’s some of the best satire ever written. I was perplexed by this one for some time as well, but I am comfortable with the conclusion that it’s simply an example of the the expression “whispering sweet nothings in your ear”. Until I’ve heard a better interpretation, that is how I am going to read it. He makes it abundantly clear that this was said into his ear. The whisper is implied, allowing the readers’ imaginations to stay engaged to fill in the details of the scene. I’ve always loved that chapter. Hope to use that one when I find my own Fenchurch.🙂