Sunday 1 April 2007

And on the one hand side...

I'm not sure if this is just a difference between British and American English, but I hear Germans commonly use the phrase "on the one hand side". To the American ear, this phrase sounds oddly redunant.

Better would be simply "on the one hand". This phrase is often used in a construction similar to this one: "On the one hand English is easy because its grammar is simple; on the other hand, it is difficult because it is so flexible.".

5 comments:

Benjamin Notheis said...

I (as a native German speaker) feel personally addressed by this post. I regularly catch myself saying "on the one hand side". However, I have no clear reason for doing so, as I have not heard this phrase in British English either.
I rather assume that this is a mix-up. There are the phrases "on the left-hand side" and "on the right-hand side". Perhaps, my brains do not clearly distiguish between them.
Nevertheless, I know that this phrase sounds odd or is simply wrong and I do not want to catch myself saying that again. But the synapses seem to remain wired-up wrongly... :)

Algol said...

This is meddling with the German idiom "einerseits, andererseits".
It should be "On the one hand, on the other hand"

Algol said...

This is meddling with the German idiom "einerseits, andererseits".
It should be "On the one hand, on the other hand"

Leog said...
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Leog said...

I think the reason is evident:

This mistake is taught by many teachers because they think that it is connected to another common mistake: the translation of "linke Seite, rechte Seite" is "left hand side, right hand side" and not just "left side, right side".

So many people think that it is the same with "einerseits, andererseits"....