yesteryear

[Mark Spahn]

What do most Americans understand by "yesteryear"?
According to a desktop dictionary, "yesteryear" means
"last year".  But I have always understood "yesteryear"
to mean "times of long ago, back in history".

My guess is that people came to take "yesteryear" to have 
this meaning from the introduction to the radio show, and 
later the television show, known as 'The Lone Ranger'.  
In that introduction, the announcer said, 
"Come back with us now to those thrilling days of
yesteryear, ... with the Lone Ranger!"
This announcement was immediately followed by
the fast-tempo part of the William Tell overture.
(It used to be said that an intellectual is someone
who can listen to the William Tell overture without
thinking of 'The Lone Ranger'.)

The time reference of "yesteryear" was the era in which
westerns were set, about the 1870s.  The radio show
must have started in the 1930s, and the TV show lasted 
into the 1950s, so in that introduction, "yesteryear" would
have to mean "60-80 years ago".

What made it possible to get people to understand 
"yesteryear" to have this altered meaning?  Well,
"yesteryear" is not an everyday word; it is semi-literary.
Moreover, I daresay most Americans first learned the word 
"yesteryear" at a young age, from this very radio/TV western.
Because this word was in the introduction, it was
heard every time the show was broadcast.
And "yesteryear", from its association with "yester(day)"
meaning "past" and "year", can be understood from
context.  Besides, no one will stop to look it up
just when a broadcast drama is starting.

Here is a way to test out my two-bit hypothesis:
Find somewhere in the English-speaking world
that has not been tainted by exposure to 'The Lone Ranger'.
If this western drama has never been broadcast in,
say, Australia, then Australians should understand
"yesteryear" to mean "last year", not "in the times
of our great-grandparents".

-- Mark Spahn  (West Seneca, NY)