Showing posts with label hear hear. Show all posts
Hear, hear!
Here's an interesting tidbit for you. On my morning treadmill surfing, I had occasion to write, "hear, hear!" on another blog. I had a moment of doubt about the spelling. It could have been here instead of hear. Have never been sure. I've always thought the phrase meant, "I hear ya, dude!" But I thought it could have meant "Over here is someone who agrees!" So today I finally looked it up, and here is what I found:
- hear
- O.E. heran (Anglian), (ge)hieran, hyran (W.Saxon), from P.Gmc. *khauzjianan (cf. O.N. hegra, O.Fris. hora, Du. horen, Ger. hören, Goth. hausjan), perhaps from PIE base *(s)keu- "to notice, observe." Spelling difference between hear and here developed 1200-1550. Hearing "listening to evidence in a court of law" is from 1576; hearsay is 1532 from phrase to hear say. O.E. also had the excellent adj. hiersum "ready to hear, obedient," lit. "hear-some" with suffix from handsome, etc. Hear, hear! (1689) was originally imperative, used as an exclamation to call attention to a speaker's words; now a general cheer of approval. Originally it was hear him!
And now my indent is messed up. But anyway, now you don't have to look it up, you lazy bastards.
