Hue and Cry

The following comment set me wondering how widespread the misspelling of hue in the expression hue and cry has become:

Where’s the hew and cry [in the mainstream media] about the way women are treated?

A web search turned up a great many examples of “hew and cry,” but it’s not always easy to tell which are misspellings and which are intended to be humorous.

For example, the Seattle Times ran the headline, “Hew and Cry Put on Hold.” The story was about a protest against the the logging of Old-Growth stands.

Before 1979 and the separation of the Department of Education from the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, many newspaper headlines used the expression “hew and cry” as a play on the acronym HEW.

Sometimes, however, the intended expression seems clear enough from the context. Here are some examples of hue being misspelled as hew in newspapers published in the U.S., the U.K., Australia, and Canada.

Amid Hew and Cry, British Buyout Firms Stay on Message
Remember the hew and cry about some ducks dying in a tailings pond?
Imagine the hew and cry if GeorgeBush were President
So where’s the hew and cry over the gross spending spree?
Hew and cry as South run riot

Modern speakers are more familiar with the hue that means “color” than with the hue that means a noise or an outcry, so it’s not surprising they might assume the hue in the expression would have a different spelling.

hue: noun. Outcry, shouting, clamor, especially that raised by a multitude in war or the chase.

Hue meaning “shout” came into English from French heu, which was more of an utterance like “huh” than a word. “Hue and cry” was the combined tumult of men shouting, dogs baying, and hunting horns sounding that accompanied the pursuit of a criminal. In time the expression became a legal term for such a pursuit commanded by the local constable. Men who refused to assist in “the hue and cry” were subject to legal penalties.

In modern use, “hue and cry” is used figuratively as a synonym for outcry. One “raises a hue and cry” against a perceived crime or injustice.

Hew, on the other hand, has to do with cutting and chopping.

hew: verb. to strike, or deal blows with a cutting weapon; to strike forcibly with a cutting tool.

Considering that “hue and cry” is in its ninth century of use, insisting on spelling it correctly may seem a bit picky. It’s amazing that modern speakers still have a use for it. Still, dictionaries do exist. It seems reasonable to expect people to learn to spell the words they use in publishing their thoughts.

Unlike No Other

I heard a radio announcer say that something was “unlike no other.” I could tell from the context that he meant the thing he was talking about was unique.

As I usually do when I read or hear nonstandard usage in a professional context, I jumped on my search engine to see if anyone else was using it. What I found suggests that many speakers use “unlike no other” as if it did mean “one of a kind.”

Relationship problem… unlike no other? (about a boy who feels his romantic situation is unique)

Urban Novel Unlike no Other (reviewer recommending a novel)

Trees unlike no other (description of unusual trees)

A community unlike no other! (a group of gamers)

A show unlike no other (ad for an entertainment program)

The expression “unlike no other” doesn’t mean “one of a kind.” On the contrary, it means “like all others.”

The prefix un- makes a word negative. In English, adding not to a statement that contains an un- word is said to cancel out the un-, resulting in a statement to be taken as a positive. Example: “I am not unhappy.” is equivalent to “I am happy.”

Note: A discussion of the “two negatives equal a positive” rule in English calls for a post of its own. This one focuses on why the expression “unlike no other” should be avoided.

Like means “having the same characteristics as something else.” Adding the prefix un- to like creates an adjective that means “dissimilar.” Technically, to say that something is “unlike no other,” is to say that it is “like everything else.”

To express the thought that something is “unique” or “one of a kind,” drop theun- and say that the thing is “like no other.” For example,

Grab a cup of cider and head to Red Arrow Park in beautiful Milwaukee, Wisconsin for a fun, low-key New Years Eve like no other.

A Race Like No Other: 26.2 Miles Through the Streets of New York (book title)

Another way to express the thought is to use the phrase “not like any other.”

They proof their dough for 24 hours which allows it to rise and ferment to a flavor not like any other bread available in Brooklyn…

This is truly a movie not like any other.

Apparently the wording “unlike no other” sounds pleasing to the ears of many speakers, but it is not standard English.

Bootstraps and Bootstrapping

In the literal sense, bootstrap is a loop attached at the top back of a boot to make it easier for the wearer to pull on the boot–if, that is, he is sitting down. On a woman’s boot–in the days when women wore skirts to ride, the bootstrap looped round the boot to hold down the lady’s skirt.

In the 19th century the expression “to lift oneself by one’s bootstraps” was used as an expression of the impossible–like pigs flying, or hell freezing over.

Early in the 20th century, the expression gained a popular new meaning: “to achieve financial independence by one’s own unaided efforts.” The epitome of this extraordinary accomplishment of the impossible feat of lifting oneself by the bootstraps was the Horatio Alger hero who goes from rags to riches aided by nothing more than honesty and hard work.

Today’s politicians are especially fond of the metaphor:

Despite the fact that Democrats and Republicans see themselves as having competing views about America, the theme of bootstrapping, or lifting oneself up the social and economic ladder through individual effort, hard work and personal responsibility, have taken center stage for both parties. They all either bootstrapped themselves up the economic ladder or benefitted from the bootstrapping of their parents and grandparents.–Noliwe M. Rooks, Time Ideas, Sept. 7, 2012.

Politicians, journalists, news commentators, social reformers, and even athletic coaches seem to find in the expression an irresistible metaphor, although not everyone who uses the term sees it as positive, or even as meaning the same thing.

Now, in Texas, we believe in the rugged individual. Texas may be the one place where people actually still have bootstraps, and we expect folks to pull themselves up by them.–Julian Castro, Sept. 4, 2012

The Poor have no Boostraps to pull up. –Tom Whitby

As the U.S. auto industry pulls itself up by its bootstraps, the gloves are starting to come off.–book review

So we’ll just have to regroup, pick ourselves up by the bootstraps and get ready for Tuesday and North Carolina.”–football coach

But tomorrow’s a new day, the sun will probably come up and we’ve got to pull up our bootstraps and get going.”–hockey coach

The high cost of gas is just one thing forcing the nation’s school districts to tighten the bootstraps this year. –journalist writing about education

In addition to its social applications, the word bootstrapping has taken on new meanings as occupational jargon.

In computing, bootstrapping is “the procedure of using a fixed sequence of instructions to initiate the loading of further instructions and ultimately of a complete program (esp. the operating system).” It is this type of “bootstrapping” that gives us the verb “to boot,” in the sense of turning on a computer. The idea is that the first program pulls up all the others.

In statistics, bootstrapping is a type of resampling in which a small sample is repeated numerous times in order to build up data.

As happens with all overworked expressions, the original wording tends to break down. One commenter says he heard the following on CNN twice in one week: “[He needs to] pull up his boot straps.”

At Whose Earliest Convenience?

Thanks to one of our readers for this:

I called a local city council member, and the assistant’s voice message said, “I am sorry I cannot take your call. Please leave a message and I will call you back at my earliest convenience.”

The usual formula is, “Please get back to me at your earliest convenience.” I’d never heard it turned on its head before.

Apparently the distorted version is gaining some popularity on business answering machines; a browser search brought up several business sites on which bloggers and commenters question the usage.

No doubt the people recording message with this phrasing believe it sounds polite. It doesn’t. Changing “your convenience” to “my convenience” transforms courtesy into arrogance.

“Your convenience” conveys the thought that that the originator of the message wants to hear from the other person as soon as that person is able to spare the time.

“My convenience” says, “I’ll get back to you when I’m good and ready.”

The idiom “as soon as possible” is another one that needs to be handled with care. I don’t know if it’s just my reaction, but to me, writing out the words “as soon as possible” seems more polite than using the common acronym/initialism ASAP.

Note: Some people pronunce ASAP as a word, but others name the letters one by one.

Compare:

Fred,
I need the revised brochure as soon as possible.

Fred,
I need the revised brochure, ASAP!

Little things, perhaps, but a lot of little things perceived as disrespectful add up during a day’s work.

If you have one of the “my earliest convenience” messages on your office answering machine, you might consider revising it. How about, “I’ll return your call as soon as possible.”