So today I found myself agreeing with someone online and went to type "hear hear" but then remembered seeing someone else type "here here" a couple days earlier.

I was pretty sure the correct phrase was "hear hear" as opposed to the other variants I'd seen ("here here", "hear here", "here hear") but I'd never actually looked it up. So I decided to check popular internet usage using Google:

1. "hear hear" = 1,740,000 hits
    
2. "here here" = 3,880,000 hits
    
3. "hear here" = 307,000 hits
    
4. "here hear" = 334,000 hits

Well dang. According to popular usage twice as many people say "here here" than say "hear hear". But is that correct? Wikipedia says no:

Hear hear (Wikipedia):
...Hear, hear is an expression used as a short repeated form of hear ye and hear him. It represents a listener's agreement with the point being made by a speaker.

It was originally an imperative for directing attention to speakers, and has since been used, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, as "the regular form of cheering in the House of Commons", with many purposes depending on the intonation of its user. It is often incorrectly spelled "here here", especially on websites...

A quick double check of OneLook Dictionary Search confirms this. Six dictionaries list "hear hear" and only one lists "here here" (and that one happens to be the wiki article above.)

Popular usage drives the movement of meaning, though, so at some point in the future "here here" may end up being the correct phrase if we don't do something about it.

So if you want to avoid yet another English colloquialism that will have your great grandchildren scratching their heads and saying "WTF?" (or whatever kids will be saying in those days) then type "hear hear" at every opportunity.

Go on, say it, you know you want to.

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Sheesh!  Time to get back to work.  Talk to you guys later today.  I'll keep checking the outstanding states and senate seats.

If you are a US citizen and planning to vote I could use your help. During each presidential election I run a blogathon and one thing I like to do is publish "polling station reports". Basically I have friends and acquaintances drop me an e-mail after they vote to tell me about their experience at the polls. I'm looking to do the same thing this year, and I'd love to get poll reports from any of my friends or readers who are interested in helping out.

Though my blog is very opinionated, the poll reports are not intended to be partisan--I'm not asking who you voted for or why. The sort of info I would be looking for is:

1. Where did you vote (City/State--even if you voted absentee):

2. What date and time of day:

3. What were the conditions like? (i.e. was it crowded or deserted, chaotic or organized, did you have to wait a long time, were the staff professional, were they nice or rude, what kind of location was being used for voting--i.e. gymnasium, school, post office, church, etc.)

4. If your station used voting machines, did they seem to be working or were they out of order? What sort of machines were they (hole-punch, optical scanner, touch-screen, etc.)?

5. Were you the subject of (or did you witness) a voter challenge? If so what was that like?

6. If you voted early or by absentee ballot, how did that work out?

7. Anything else you want to add.

This should basically boil down to a few lines in e-mail. Doesn't matter if you cover all of the points above--basic idea is to say where you voted and what it was like. I will likely edit/digest reports I receive for grammar and clarity before posting them to my blog.

If you are interested in helping out, please drop me an e-mail with your poll report after you vote on November 4. Poll reports should be sent to: pollreport@plastereddragon.com. That e-mail address will be disabled on November 5. All reports should be sent on November 4th (or earlier if you voted early/absentee)--the idea is to log things as they happen.