Neither here nor there?
[ 2006-12-08 11:21 ]

Vinnie asks: What's "neither here nor there?"

My comments:
First of all, you've done well to even notice a phrase like this. Neither here nor there - simple and familiar words they are, so familiar that we sometimes ignore them.

That's why people say familiarity breeds contempt - that's me at my most penetrating, eh (lol)? Seriously though, in English language learning, familiarity breeds, well, familiarity.

It's tempting to ask you to give an example, providing some context in which you found this lovely phrase because then I could smugly reply with: Well, can you guess?

But that's neither here nor there now. We cannot deal with what-ifs. We must deal with what is - and what is is that you've raised a question without giving examples.

I'll give examples instead.

This passage is from the opening chapter of The Odyssey by Homer:
"Now Neptune had gone off to the Ethiopians, who are at the World's end, and lie in two halves, the one looking West and the other East. He had gone there to accept a hecatomb of sheep and oxen, and was enjoying himself at his festival; but the other gods met in the house of Olympian Jove, and the sire of gods and men spoke first. At that moment he was thinking of Aegisthus, who had been killed by Agamemnon's son Orestes; so he said to the other gods:

"'See now, how men lay blame upon us gods for what is after all nothing but their own folly. Look at Aegisthus; he must needs make love to Agamemnon's wife unrighteously and then kill Agamemnon, though he knew it would be the death of him; for I sent Mercury to warn him not to do either of these things, inasmuch as Orestes would be sure to take his revenge when he grew up and wanted to return home. Mercury told him this in all good will but he would not listen, and now he has paid for everything in full.'

"Then Minerva said, 'Father, son of Saturn, King of kings, it served Aegisthus right, and so it would any one else who does as he did; but Aegisthus is neither here nor there; it is for Ulysses that my heart bleeds, when I think of his sufferings in that lonely sea-girt island, far away, poor man, from all his friends.'…"

Leave all those Greek gods alone for the moment. Can you guess the meaning of "neither here nor there", Vinnie?

From the Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, this passage:
"Ay, ay," said the little man, "very good, very good, indeed; but you should have suggested it to me. My dear sir, I'm quite certain you cannot be ignorant of the extent of confidence which must be placed in professional men. If any authority can be necessary on such a point, my dear sir, let me refer you to the well-known case in Barnwell and…"

"Never mind George Barnwell," interrupted Sam, who had remained a wondering listener during this short colloquy; "everybody knows what sort of a case his was, though it's always been my opinion, mind you, that the young woman deserved scragging a precious sight more than he did. However, that's neither here nor there. You want me to accept of half a guinea. Very well, I'm agreeable: I can't say no fairer than that, can I, sir?"

Have you figured it out, Vinnie? Or perhaps one more example will make a difference.

In the news (old news, I shall say), this passage from an Economist article titled Taxing the Internet back on March 23, 2001: "In some respects, a further ban on new Internet taxes is neither here nor there, because the real problem is the difficulty of collecting those old taxes that should already apply to e-commerce."

Well, again, Vinnie, can you guess? Or have all these examples been in vain, irrelevant, changing nothing and making no difference?

Anyways, this is one way to mastering idiomatic English without consulting a dictionary. Meet it. See it in the eye. See through it. If once doesn't do it, then do it twice, thrice. Eventually you'll be able to get acquainted with it. You'll be able to make friends with it. You'll be able to use it. You'll be able to use it well.

But remember, do it with respect. Don't allow familiarity to breed disrespect.

 

About the author:
 

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

 
 
相關文章 Related Stories
 
         
 
 
 
 
 
         

 

 

 
 

48小時內(nèi)最熱門

     

本頻道最新推薦

     
  Neither here nor there?
  Cutthroat, breakneck
  Double take on success
  Home record, road record
  Double jeopardy

論壇熱貼

     
  福娃英文名更改,為何事先不考慮好?
  男扮女裝,女扮男裝?
  請教高人:關于社保方面的詞匯
  評頭論足之妙語連篇
  常用英語口語1000句
  翻譯:老鄉(xiāng)見老鄉(xiāng),兩眼淚汪汪




主站蜘蛛池模板: a级片在线观看视频| 亚洲AV无码久久久久网站蜜桃| 靠逼软件app| 国产麻豆综合视频在线观看| 中文字幕无码精品三级在线电影 | 国产午夜无码视频在线观看| 91网站免费观看| 性护士movievideobest| 久久精品99久久香蕉国产色戒| 欧美精品在线观看| 免费被靠视频动漫| 草莓视频在线观看18| 国产白丝丝高跟在线观看| 99久热只有精品视频免费看| 成人av鲁丝片一区二区免费| 久久精品国产免费| 欧美成人免费网站| 人人妻人人澡人人爽人人dvd| 老司机精品在线| 国产女同志videos| 1卡2卡三卡4卡国产| 天堂а√在线官网| 丁香色欲久久久久久综合网| 日本伊人精品一区二区三区 | 韩国三级电影网| 国产精品久久久久久久久久免费| av毛片免费看| 巨大挺进她的花茎| 丰满少妇人妻HD高清大乳在线| 日韩高清一区二区| 亚洲午夜久久久影院伊人| 永久黄色免费网站| 依依成人精品视频在线观看| 老太脱裤子小伙bbbaaa| 国产免费小视频在线观看| 欧美jizz18性欧美| 国产精品无码免费播放| 99久久99这里只有免费费精品| 女邻居拉开裙子让我挺进| 不卡一卡二卡三亚洲| 无翼乌全彩无遮挡动漫视频|