for whatever reason, it seems that lately wherever i turn i'm running into the same perplexing phrase:
"Here! Here!"
~or~
"Hear! Hear!"
I've always thought the latter was 'correct' (as in "listen, listen, these are words of truth"), but three times in a row now i've seen it as "Here! Here!", which could also make sense, as if the speaker were raising a hand saying "I agree, I agree".
Are they both the same? Both correct? Somehow it sounds Shakespearean in origin... does the OED give an earliest citation? are you there, joe?
Hear! Here! I have had the same question.
Hear! Hear! appears to be a shortened form of "Hear ye! Hear ye!"
And Here! Here! looks as though the speaker is trying to rope in the attention of a distracted and even disagreeable audience.
I'll cast my vote for "Hear! Hear!" but it's easy to imagine how "Here! Here!" would make sense, too. (This reminds me of what's going on over on the XXXXX and OOOOO thread. Lots may be rationalized when drawing viewpoints. We'll see what Mr. Ed has to say.)
>We'll see what Mr. Ed has to say.
a horse is a horse
of course, of couse
and you can't talk to a horse, of course
unless, of course, the horse of course
is the famous mr. ed.
[it's stuck in my head, why shouldn't it be stuck in yours...]
[it's stuck in my head, why shouldn't it be stuck in yours...]
Quia fecit mihi magna!
To display my vaunted command of the obvious, "Hear, Hear!" is chorus in Parliament to indicate approval of statements of a speaker.
chorus in Parliament to indicate approval
You read that hear off their speech balloons, Dr. Bill? They're homophones. (Thus demonstrating my greater command of the obvious)
Dear Faldage: How else could I possibly know how their words were spelled?
Dear tsuwm,
What's heard hard bears repeating here to drum the thing in at a battering gallop, so here's your Ed heard in red to be read and reread among the word herd since we're on the subject of homophones, F.:
>We'll see what Mr. Ed has to say.
a horse is a horse
of course, of couse
and you can't talk to a horse, of course
unless, of course, the horse of course
is the famous mr. ed.
[it's stuck in my head, why shouldn't it be stuck in yours...]
...reread Ed in red, here, there and everywhere--hear! hear!
(That's twice and that's nice!)
Always at a gallop,
OrB
A horse is a horse of course of course,
and no one can talk to a horse of course.
That is of course unless the horse
is the famous Mister Ed!
Go right to the source and ask the horse.
He'll give you the answer that you'll endorse
He's always on a steady course.
Talk to Mister Ed!
People yakkity-yak a streak
and waste your time of day,
but Mister Ed will never speak
unless he has something to say!
A horse is a horse of course of course,
and this one'll talk 'til his voice is hoarse.
You never heard of a talking horse?
Well, listen to this...
"I am Mister Ed!"
blue
orange
white
black
purple
green
red
yellow
try reading the list..
just read it.. don't name the colors..
(the mail application i use has unread mail marked red, read mail is not red..)
just read it.. don't name the colors..
um . . . aren't you supposed to do it the other way?
just read it.. don't name the colors..
um . . . aren't you supposed to do it the other way?
I found it easy to read the words, naming the colo(u)rs was a bit more difficult.
Mr. Ed...[it's stuck in my head, why shouldn't it be stuck in yours...]Hey, Joe! That's
my horse you rode in on!
...from the other horse thread.
Well, listen to this!..."Hiiiiiiii, Willllllburrrrrrrrrrrrr!...." 
Hear here!...
this is the place for listening!
I think.
Yes, I hesitated while naming some colours also but not in reading out the words.
I always thought it was "here, here" meaning I too, me standing right here, agree with what you say. I did so because of the way it is shouted out - loudly, with no hesitation between each word.
When you want someone to pay attention you might say "hear, hear" but wouldn't you pause for effect and to draw the person's attention after the first "hear" then say the second "hear". I'm having a bit of trouble explaining it. Act it out and you may see what I mean.
I certainly understand the usage a la House of Commons as "Hear, Hear!" or "Hear! Hear!".
But then there is also the other spelling, as in, "Here, here! What do you mean by such conduct?" in a Colonel Blimp tone.
Strangely, there is also There, There, as in "There, there, sweetie, don't cry."
Confusingly though, the MP's always manage to make it sound like 'yearyear'.
Hear! Hear! appears to be a shortened form of "Hear ye! Hear ye!"
Not shortened. The earlier form is "Oyez, oyez!". The more natural translation of that is "Hear, hear!". The English use in Parliament might date from the time English was adopted as the official language... I should know when... late 1300s?
Town cryers are said to cry "Hear ye", but how authentic a tradition is that?
I think I disagree politely with BelM. I always thought it was "Hear, hear". I think it may have been spelled that way in a textbook, once.
I think Nicolas has hit the nail on the head here.
At each session of the United States Supreme Court, as the Justices file into the Chamber, the Marshall intones thus: "The Honorable, the Chief Justice and the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! All persons having business before the Honorable, the Supreme Court of the United States, are admonished to draw near and give their attention, for the Court is now sitting. God Save the United States and this Honorable Court!"
Black's Law Dictionary states (I find the last four words amusing): OYEZ. Hear ye. A word used in courts by this public crier to commaned attention when a proclamation is about to be made. Usually pronounced "O yes."
I always have had to stop and think about this one, but for the last couple of years I've taken more note of printed word usage -- in books and with closed-captioning it seems to be invariably rendered as "hear, hear".
hear now some of the various opinions:
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mhear.htmlhttp://www.montypython.net/scripts/bruceskit.php{Everybruce: Hear, hear! Well spoken, Bruce! }*
http://www.hear-hear.com/writing/992132745/index_htmlhttp://lawlibrary.ucdavis.edu/LAWLIB/jun94/0186.html*it is fascinating how many cross-threads manifest in this one link.
Easy to take a position on either "Hear! Hear!" or "Here! Here!"--circumstances having been taken in consideration.
But even more alluring are the considerations of "Where? Where?"--Where to meet? Where to find one another?
And then the giddily mad cries of young girls facing their closets for that special date: "Wear? Wear?"--What to wear to enchance the enchantment? Ah, that's a sweet cry to heaven for help!
Wearing a belt of stars loosely below my abdomen,
OrB
How about There? Quoth the maiden:"Not there! Not there! Theeeeeeeeeeeeeere!"
How about There? Quoth the maiden:"Not there! Not there! Theeeeeeeeeeeeeere!"Ahhhh. Good, very good. LCD reached at the 23rd response.
LCD reachedNay, not so, Kiwi: I have it on good authority that
LCD Continues to Plumment: http://persweb.direct.ca/kentm/onion/Lowest%20Common%20Denominator%20Continues%20To%20Plummet.htmWe can get much more 'L than this.
["I felt my footsteps stutter / so I lay down in the gutter" -e]
Well, I'm not going to argue over the levels of stupidity which can be reached if you really try. I don't need to. The following is an excerpt from your link:
"Quite simply, the collective intelligence level is dropping so rapidly that it's becoming increasingly difficult for producers to insult the intelligence of the American public," said News Corp president and COO Peter Chernin. "Without a way to set a floor for the lowest common denominator, even the stupidest material we can develop is not stupid enough for audiences to enjoy."and
"The biggest problem is not that TV shows' plots are too complicated, but that shows have any plots at all. The presence of a plot, however hackneyed, is not palatable to viewers accustomed to programs like Total Request Live or Jackass, which contain no story structure whatsoever," Lowell said. "What's worse, in two or three years, even TRL will be too hard for most people to grasp, because the e-mail requests scrolling across the screen require them to read."Oh, dear, dear, dear-ee me!
Those Liquid Crystal Displays are really bad.