my friend said"he is a peeping tom."
what does peeping tom mean?
thank you for your answer.
2006-11-21 00:03:13 · 5 answers · asked by ºѪ⠳ 6 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
It's a person who engages in voyeurism. Probably your friend was talking about someone who enjoys watching people undressed through the windows and locked doors.
The expression comes from the legend to Lady Godiva, take a look at the following link, this might be helpful:
2006-11-21 04:14:49 · answer #1 · answered by Verbena 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
A peeping Tom is a person who spies on other people's intimate moments. It is actually a criminal offence to be a peeping Tom.
The expression comes from the legend which has grown around a historical character, Lady Godiva, who begged her husband Leofric, who ruled over Coventry, to relax his policy over the heavy taxation. He said he would do so only on condition that she would ride through the streets naked at midday. By common agreement, everybody stayed indoors and behind the shutters at that time, but a certain boy called Tom cheated by peeping at her with one eye, and legend says that he was blinded in that eye as a punishment. http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:z1kwgjBC1iIJ:www.abacom.com/~jkrause/godiva.html+lady+godiva+story&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1
A synonym for "peeping Tom" is the French word "voyeur".
2006-11-21 02:36:03 · answer #2 · answered by Doethineb 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
A Peeping Tom is someone who spies on another person without that person's knowledge of it happening. I've heard of such cases where a landlord would put hidden cameras in a tennant's bathroom and watch them changing. Aweful!
2016-05-22 05:39:44 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It means you like to look at things you shouldn't look at.
The name comes from the story of Lady Godiva, in pre-Norman England: Lady Godiva's husband was the lord of Coventry and wouldn't give them a tax reduction. She took pity on them, and tried to persuade him to give them a break; he swore that he'd only do so if she'd ride bareback and butt-naked through the town.
So she did.
To keep everything nice and PG-rated, she ordered that everyone go indoors first, but Tom the tailor took a peek and was struck blind - Peeping Tom.
2006-11-21 01:13:46 · answer #4 · answered by evilspikeagon 2 · 4⤊ 0⤋
It means someone who likes to peek in on people while they are undressed. It could be peeking into a bathroom, or to a bedroom where someone is changing, etc.
2006-11-21 00:17:27 · answer #5 · answered by AsiaWired 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋