[Lexicog] Re: lexical phrase

[David Frank]

from David Frank:

This may just seem like a quibble, but there is some variation in "On the one hand..." and "On the other hand....." That's as far as it usually goes, because most people only have two hands. But I have also heard "On the third hand...." I suppose that one is mainly used facetiously.

In writing this, I decided to do a Google search, and I found a blog entitled "On the third hand" at http://site-essential.com/. (There was also a paid advertisement saying that if I wanted to buy a third hand, I should be able to find it on Ebay.) Also, I found an acronym OTTH at http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/On+the+Third+Hand.

I have to admit, whenever I hear someone say that there is no variation at all in some aspect of language, that tends to prompt my curiosity to consider if it is really true, since people can be so creative and versatile in their use of language.

Sorry to take you off subject, Ron.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Ron Moe 
  To: lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Tuesday, November 14, 2006 12:19 AM
  Subject: [Lexicog] lexical phrase
  ....
  The phrase ‘on the other hand’ has the internal structure of a preposition phrase but functions as a conjunction syntactically and semantically. It is a fixed phrase in that it cannot be varied in any way. None of the constituent words can be replaced or inflected and no other words can be inserted in it....
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