Re: Wish list

[Peter Evans peterev@xxxxxxxx]

Phil Smith:

>> >Hear, hear

Harry Binswanger
>> Isn't it "here, here"?

No. Here's the OED (direct cut 'n' paste and thus with the loss of
italics, etc., though with paragraphs separated by blank lines):

hear!, now usually repeated, hear! hear! (formerly hear him! hear him!) is
used as an exclamation to call attention to a speaker?s words, and hence
has become a general expression of approbation or ?cheering?.

It is now the regular form of cheering [cheer n.1 8] in the House of
Commons, and expresses, according to intonation, admiration, acquiescence,
indignation, derision, etc.

1689 Sir E. Seymour 19 Feb. in Cobbett Parl. Hist. V. 122, I see gentlemen
speak here under great disadvantages..When gentlemen speak with
reflections, and cry ?hear him, hear him?, they [the former] cannot speak
with freedom.

1689 Sir H. Capel ibid., When Seymour was in the Chair, I have heard ?Hear
him, hear him?, often said in the house.

1762 Foote Orators ii. Wks. 1836 II. 176 Ter. Dermot, be easy? Scam. Hear
him? Tire. Hear him? Ter. Ay, hear him, hear him.

1768 Ld. J. Cavendish Sp. Ho. Com. 8 Dec. in Sir H. Cavendish Deb. (1841)
I. 96 Let us..give a dispassionate attention to everything that passes.
[Hear!] That very word ?hear!? I dread of all others.

1769 Sir F. Norton Sp. ibid. 432 The common law is as much the law as the
statute law. [Mr. Grenville called out hear! hear!] If the hon. gentleman
will hear, by and by he will hear.

1770 G. Grenville Sp. 16 Feb. ibid. 461 The House will be obliged to you
[the Speaker] for your information. [Hear, Hear!] Mr. Speaker, I beg the
House will be silent. I am sure that is disorderly.

1783 Gentl. Mag. LIII. ii. 822 As to himself, he was free to
acknowledge..the hand which he had in it (A cry of Hear him! Hear him!) By
the cry of Hear Him! said his Lordship, gentlemen seem to think I am going
to make a confession.

1803 in Stanhope Life Pitt (1862) IV. 49 When he [Pitt] sat down there
followed three of the..most enthusiastic bursts of applause I ever
heard..as far as I observed, however, it was confined to the parliamentary
?Hear him! Hear him!?

1812 Parl. Deb. 5 May in Examiner 11 May 292/2 Orders were sent off to Mr.
Henry to withdraw from the United States.?(Hear, hear!)

1865 Lowell Scotch the Snake Prose Wks. 1890 V. 251 One Noble Lord or
Honorable Member asking a question, and another Noble Lord or Honorable
Member endeavoring to dodge it, amid cries of Hear! Hear!
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Peter Evans