on the other hand

[Wilson Gray]

FWIW, I, like Victor, I'm assuming, grew up with "on one hand." In my
youth, "on _the_ one hand" wasn't used by anyone in the Saint Louis
area. This is the first time that I've ever seen or heard "on the one
_side_." But I've read and heard "on _the_ one hand" often enough not
to be taken aback by it. The strings with _the_ aren't used in BE.

-Wilson
–––
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
-Mark Twain



On Wed, Mar 4, 2009 at 6:12 PM, Victor <aardvark66 at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Â  Â  Â  Victor <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Â  Â  Â on the other hand
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> How common is the use of definite article with "on one hand"/"on one side"?
>
> http://www.newmajority.com/ShowScroll.aspx?ID=d22fe4c9-6f8c-4c0d-93af-aed79ad3b467
> _On the one side_, the president of the United States: soft-spoken and
> conciliatory, never angry, always invoking the recession and its victims.
>
> Â  Â VS-)
>
> PS: The piece is worth reading in its own right, but not for linguistic
> reasons.
>
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