[WikiEN-l] Here here, or... (Hear, hear!) or hear, hear

Mon Oct 13 16:48:23 UTC 2003

From: "Jake Nelson" <jnelson at soncom.com>
> Stevertigo said:
> >"Alex R." <alex756 at nyc.rr.com> wrote:
> >>Here. here.
> >
> >I thought it was "hear, hear"
> 
> You are correct. And I concur, as well.
> 
> -- Jake

"Here" is an interjection meaning "to concur",
Thus, Here. Here. Means, "I concur. I concur."
(repeated for emphasis).

See The American Heritage Dictionary of the 
English Language,  Fourth Edition

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=2&q=Here

Oral utterances are always open to ambigious
interpretation and I am not suggesting that one who
listens to UK or other Commonwealth countries
Commons  debates incorrectly believes that "Here!" 
(meaning "I agree")  cannot also be interpreted
to mean means"hear him". or "listen to the speaker";
http://phrases.shu.ac.uk/meanings/178100.html
which is the origin of Hear, hear! or Hear! Hear!
though I have never seen that exclamation used 
without exclamatory punctuation.

The exclamatory form  is acceptable when drawing
attention to the speaker's words as a type of
cheer. I was using "Here." as an expression of
concurrance with Louis Kyu Won Ryu's
utterance, not primarily to draw attention to his speech.

It can be considered an idiomatic expression:
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=2&q=hear
that some interpret as being a sign of agreement.

Either word is acceptable as far as I am concerned,
but then lawyers are always looking for alternative
meanings and the gray zones. Academics,
grammarians (and others too!) may be looking for
black and white answers, nothing wrong with that,
it these POVs that keeps us "gray zone workers"
searching for the NPOV!

Alex756