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The word of the day was Hearken. Second definition reads, "to return to a previous subject (usually in the form of hearken back)." Isn't this redundant?
Also, if it is not redundant, then isn't the example quote that is given incorrect? "Such notions conjure up images of women as temptresses and hearken to times when the sight of a cello......"
There seems to be a contradiction here somewhere...but where????
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Dear Angel,
Hearken back does seem redundant on one level, but on another it's intensified--as though moving not only a bit back, but a long ways.
Hearken is a word that is sadly lost in everyday speech, and, I suppose, only used for comic or dramatic effect.
Too bad, there. It has heart and broken fused into one word, still on the alert for old memories, but dulled, still, by the breaking.
I'm clearly being imaginative here. No left-brained linearity from this soul.
Welcome to the board, by the way. I like your name. You've got an appropriate beginning with Angel and hearken. Celestial kind of listenings here.
Best regards,
WW (aka DubDub, who don't like unnecessary punctuation!)
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for those of us who are linear minded, the fault lies in Anu's definition, which is a bit misdirecting. actually, the phrase hearken back takes the second meaning, as is perhaps better explained here: http://www.bartleby.com/68/26/2926.html. the "usually" as given in sense two probably just shortcuts an explanation such as: sometimes people leave off the back but the context tells you that they refer to something said or done earlier. well, it is mostly a poetic (non-linear?) usage these days. p.s. - in looking for recent citations, I found one with what I thought to be an odd phrase: Nowadays... musical comedies all seem to hearken back to Old Vienna or Gay Paree, and they don't exactly contribute to the gaiety of nations. -Guardian, Dec. 15, 1967
the gaiety of nations, the cheerfulness or pleasure of a large number of people; general gaiety or amusement (freq. used hyperbolically or ironically).
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Several good dictionaries I consulted did not give the second definition, "to return to a previous discussion" or something like that. I have never seen it used that way (except with back). I see no redundancy.
As to the cello question, the oldtimers got upset easily, didn't they. Imagine getting excited by seeing a girl's ankles! Their speech may have been pure, but their thoughts were not.
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Imagine getting excited by seeing a girl's ankles!
music, maestro:
In olden days a glimpse of stocking was
Looked on as something shocking. Now
Heaven knows...
Anything goes.
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Dear Keiva,
Hearkening back to Gilbert and Sull'v'n! That was a duo, finally split in anger. (Chastity, Charity, and who were those other dancin' girls in that musical?)
wwh: A lot of local cellists of the female persuasion have switched to slacks. You'd really have to leer to see a bit of ankle now. The cellists of male persuasion, however, haven't switched to skirts.
Gaiety of nations. And that's something new to chew.
Best regards,
Green-about-the-Gills and Dubivan
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Thank you all for your explanations of the word hearken. And thank you Keiva for bringing back the memory of my high school musical, "Anything Goes".
I look forward to many more posts here on the board.
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DUHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
Keiva, you made me hearken back to my high school musical "Anything Goes".
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the oldtimers got upset easily, didn't they. Imagine getting excited by seeing a girl's ankles!
As opposed to getting upset over, say, someone's asking if it's OK to interrupt you. Can I ask you a question?
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Bet in whatever paradise Cole Porter resides, he ain't gettin' no kick from champagne. He and Clement Clarke Moore are probably drowning their sorrows in cheap yet heavenly German Rot Gut right now and planning a joint Marley-like chain-rattling visitation next Christmas Eve on those who would misattribute their works. 
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Oh, good grief!!! Can't believe I wrote what I wrote!!!! That was a major error here. Thanks, AnnaS, for setting me straight! Great, big  ! Doesn't even make sense how I did a rapid fire change of anything and everything about language, song, time, place, you name it, I screwed 'em all up. WW
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