Tail: 8.Informal. a person who trails or keeps a close surveillance of another, as a detective or spy: The police decided to put a tail on the suspect.
Little did I know that I'd have to go eight entries deep in the "Online Dictionary" to find a definition of "Tail" that would allow me to even come close to punning the title Mr. Chaucer's famous work. But nevertheless, there it is. What I hope to do over the next two weeks is to keep as close a surveillance as possible on this years' Lambeth Conference as I help man the Compass Rose Societies' convention "stand" (that's English-Speak for "booth") and report on what I find. I'll be particularly interested in what the bishops have to say about our activities.
Incidentally, just to kick it off, here's what Wikipedia says about Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales":
The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century (two of them in prose, the rest in verse). The tales, some of which are originals and others not, are contained inside a frame tale and told by a collection of pilgrims on a pilgrimage from Southwark to Canterbury to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral.[1] The Canterbury Tales are written in Middle English. Although the tales are considered to be his magnum opus, some believe the structure of the tales is indebted to the works of The Decameron, which Chaucer is said to have read on an earlier visit to Italy.
I think this sets the scene nicely. Thanks for visiting and come back often. If you have an RSS reader, you can subscribe to these posts by filling in your email address in the left hand column. and clicking on "subscribe."
Norris Battin
Compass Rose Society Communications
