yesteryear

[Page Stephens]

Wilson,

Thanks for the memories.

"With William Conrad as Matt Dillon, Parley Baer as Chester, Howard McNear
as Doc and Georgia Ellis as Kitty."

Check out this url to see what they looked like.

http://cayman.globat.com/~trademarksnet.com/GUNSMOKE/GunsmokeTGAW/Marks-Stuf
f/Gunsmoke/r-charac.htm

Page Stephens

> [Original Message]
> From: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Date: 1/7/2006 12:30:04 AM
> Subject: Re: yesteryear
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: yesteryear
>
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>
> I, too, remember well "those thrilling days of yesteryear" from radio
> days, to the extent of being able to recall that "Cheerioats"[sic] was
> the sponsor. I was never interested in the TV verssion because the
> voices were different, ditto "Gunsmoke." That "Chester" had the same
> voice was barely enough to git 'er done for me. When Chester was
> replaced by "Fester" or whoever, that
> was the end.
>
> Until I read this post, the possibility that "yesteryear" might mean
> merely "last year" and not "at least as far back as the days of the
> Old West" had never occurred to me. OTOH, I've always felt that
> "antan" was merely "last year," barring an uncanny prescience on the
> poet's part of today's vanishing snowcaps and glaciers and the
> concurrent extiction of species.
>
> General Mills vacillated between "Cheerioats" and "Cheerios" before
> settling on the latter.
>
> BTW, has anyone else the increasing number of semi-educated writers
> who think that "latter" is a sophisticater way of expressing "last"?
>
> -Wilson
>
> -Wilson
>
>
> On 1/6/06, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: yesteryear
> >
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> >
> >   I'm with youse, and pretty much because othe Lone Ranger.  I can't
imagine knowing the word before I started watching The Lone Ranger on TV in
1954-55.  But I do seem to recall that my instant understanding of it
delighted me.  That and the "William Tell Overture."
> >
> >   Regardless of the customary French application of "d'antan,"
"yesteryear" must have meant "yore" to all but the most pedantic readers of
Rosetti's translation.  "The snows of yore" are infinitely deeper than
those of "last year."
> >
> >   JL
> >
> >
> >   ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> > Sender: American Dialect Society
> > Poster: sagehen
> > Subject: Re: yesteryear
> >
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> >
> > >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)
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~
> > I did listen to The Lone Ranger, as a kid, but I *think* I was
acquainted
> > with "yesteryear" before hearing it there. I'm not sure I'd have
> > remembered it as part of that introductory spiel, if you hadn't brought
it
> > up. My first association with "yesteryear" was as the customary
> > translation of "Ou sont les neiges d'antan?" Looking up /antan/ in
> > Cassell's I find it gives "yesteryear, yore" as equivalent. So go
figure.
> > To me, now, "yesteryear" means the past in general, not just last year.
> > A. Murie
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------
> > Yahoo! Photos
> >  Ring in the New Year with Photo Calendars. Add photos, events,
holidays, whatever.
> >