The Defenestration of Ermintrude Inch
Encyclopedia
"The Defenestration
of Ermintrude Inch" is a short story by British writer Arthur C. Clarke
, included in his collection Tales from the White Hart
.
The story is about the common household quarrel: the husband (Osbert Inch) thinks the wife (Ermintrude) speaks too much, 100 words to each one of his, while the wife disagrees. The husband, who is also a BBC sound engineer, decides to resolve the dispute by using technology. He invents a machine that will prominently display two counters in living room: the number of words spoken by the wife and by the husband by automatically listening to the conversation.
Defenestration
Defenestration is the act of throwing someone or something out of a window.The term "defenestration" was coined around the time of an incident in Prague Castle in the year 1618. The word comes from the Latin de- and fenestra...
of Ermintrude Inch" is a short story by British writer Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...
, included in his collection Tales from the White Hart
Tales from the White Hart
Tales from the White Hart is a collection of short stories by science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke, in the "club tales" style.Thirteen of the fifteen stories originally appeared across a number of different publications. "Moving Spirit" and "The Defenestration of Ermintrude Inch" were first...
.
The story is about the common household quarrel: the husband (Osbert Inch) thinks the wife (Ermintrude) speaks too much, 100 words to each one of his, while the wife disagrees. The husband, who is also a BBC sound engineer, decides to resolve the dispute by using technology. He invents a machine that will prominently display two counters in living room: the number of words spoken by the wife and by the husband by automatically listening to the conversation.