I’m currently reading Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. Though not quite finished, I’d recommend the book to anyone who does even a modest amount of writing in his daily life. The book isn’t a typical “how-to” grammar guide; instead, it reads like a memoir meets wise-old-uncle advice column, mixing [...]
Quick answer: The correct term is “hear, hear.”
The Maven’s word of the day answered this question back in 1998: The shout is hear, hear.
They continue:
The original form of this expression was hear him, which was usually repeated. This imperative was used to call attention to a speaker’s words, and naturally [...]
“It’s a hard line to tow.”
That’s how the email ended, making me grin ear-to-ear as I pictured the sender pulling a large load with a rope tied around her waist.
The phrase is “toe the line,” not “tow the line.”
It’s an easy mistake to make, as WorldWideWords.org points out:
It’s correctly [...]
