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VOL. 2, 2006 |
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HITHER, THITHER and YON |
 Adolf Hither? |
 The musical instrument known as the Thither? |
 Is this man expressing boredom with a yon? |
Getting to the bottom of an
old English expression
of TheColumnists.com
Q. Les Feck of Foosland, IL. writes, “I am an avid sports buff and not too long ago read an Internet blog about George Steinbrenner. It said that ‘George was tossing executives, managers and players hither, thither and yon…’ That sentence threw me. Was Hither, Thither and Yon an old Yankee double-play infield that I never heard about? I discussed it with my friends at my Bowling League in Champaign (we have only 90 people living in Foosland and we got nothing there) and everyone had a different take on those words: Hank O’Hare insists that it’s a big New York law firm; his wife who has a bad lisp (I’m not sure if she’s named Selma or Thelma) was pretty sure that Hither was a Nazi leader and Thither was an old-time harp–but she didn’t have the foggiest idea what a Yon was. My own wife said that she’s heard of a word “hitherto’ and supposed it was a sailing ship captain’s command. So help us please. What in hell do those strange words mean?
A. Rejoice citizens of Foosland, Almanac can help you. ‘Hither, thither and yon’ roughly translates into "here, there and everywhere." Actually the "yon" is an old-fashioned contraction of "beyond"--as in "Bed, Bath and Yon." "Hitherto," which means "until now," is another of the silly-sounding archaic words that have been kicking around for a millennium or more and refuse to go away.* Want a few related "hitherto" words? Try "heretofore" or "erstwhile," as in "The performer erstwhile known as Prince." The tendency to write or, Lord help us, to speak using some of these linguistic dinosaurs should be frowned upon.**
Hither, Thither and Yon have sisters and cousins and aunts who still hang in. Most of these words are redundant: "nevertheless" -- try "yet;" "whereupon"-- "on which;" "thereupon"--"with that." Other throwback usages can be source of amusement, confusion or serve as anachronisms, e.g. "Mel Gibson has fame and fortune, notwithstanding he's on the hot seat," or "Now, folks, let's put our hands together and greet Mega-Death, who henceforth will knock your socks off until curtain time;" or "Oliver Twist was a selfish kid, his orphanage was short of porridge, nevertheless he asked for more!"
Still, the silly consists persist, thanks
in some measure to the lawyers and our legal system. Plucked
from the periwigged practitioners of Old Bailey are terms like
"bequeath, expungement, enjoin, interlocutory, malfeasance,
putative, remand, testator, sequester," etc. In law
enforcement circles--thanks to movies and TV shows, we all know
about "perpetrators" and there "whereabouts."
Ah, but "therein" lies another mystery! Why do cops
persist in using those old-fashioned terms and abbreviate most
everything else?
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*Dr Theocrastus Phillipus Aureolus Bombastus von Hehenheim XIII, distinguished director of the International Sesquipedalion Society (the official custodian of long or complex words in the English language) agrees that “in normal conversation and writing, the terse Hemingway way is more effective for communicating with the plebians" Dr.”H” insisted he was a devotee of simplicity: “As an example I rejected out of hand a suggestion that our organization be renamed the Floccinaucinihilipilification Society, which, of course, means ’the categorization of worthless trivia.’
{Note: Dr. von Hehenheim is a descendant and namesake of the renowned 15th century alchemist/healer who adopted the name Paracelsus to avoid finger cramps when signing prescriptions. An early Almanac written about Paracelsus appears in blog form before we were asked to join TheColumnists. If you ask for it, we'll send it.}
**Silly, throwback uses abound. Send Almanac your favorites and we will use them in a subsequent column.
©2006 by Sid Frigand. The illustration is from IMSI's Master Clips Collection, 1895 Francisco Blvd. E., San Rafael, CA, 94901-5506, USA. This column first posted Monday, Aug. 21, 2006.
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