"hither to that point" (J. Travolta)

[sagehen]

on 2/24/08 10:01 PM, Laurence Horn at laurence.horn at YALE.EDU wrote:

> Anyone else watching the Oscars?  If so, anyone else just hear John
> Travolta (in a segment on how academy members like him vote for their
> choices) say something to the effect of
>
> "hither to that point"
>
> with reduction to schwa on "to" ("hither tuh that point"), so it was
> clearly not "hitherto that point"?  The point was a point in time,
> and the meaning was quite obviously "up to that point/moment".  I've
> never heard this and don't see any gloss in the OED or AHD that
> really fit this use of "hither", although some of the archaic senses
> in the OED approximate it.
>
> LH
>
Came across this unopened thread while sorting files.  Without knowing the
rest of the thought involved here, it called to mind a phrase sometimes used
by speakers who like bits of padding: "further to the point." Aptness, as
Mencken noted, can be beside the point!
AM

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