My grandpa used to ask "Do you live around here or ride a bicycle?" fairly often, finding it hilarious (him and only him). While it is quite an awkward, malformed piece of logic, what is its source? It seems to exist as a phrase more often than chance, occasionally in humor/"wit" books.
Learn English – “Do you live around here or ride a bicycle?”
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Related Solutions
It's "Hear! Hear!" which comes from "Hear him! Hear him!"
"Hear him! Hear him!"
"Hear him! Hear him!" was referred to in Debates in Parliament in 1688, and from the context it's clear it was a commonly heard phrase at the time.
Sir Edward Seymour.] I see Gentlemen speak here under great disadvantages. If they are not free in this Convention, what shall we do in Parliament ? When Gentlemen speak with Reflections, and cry, " Hear him, hear him," they cannot speak with freedom. I speak not this to the Chair (the Speaker) who keeps Order well, but to what passed at the Committee.
Seymour continues, and is followed by:
Sir Henry Capel.] The Chair has taken care of Order' and I have seen no disorder to-day. When Seymour was in the Chair, I have heard "Hear him, hear him," often said in the House.
"Hear! Hear!"
A interesting non-parliamentary use of "hear, hear" can be found in a 1770 A Letter to Lord Mansfield. A North Briton Extraordinary:
Note the parenthetic interjections to the quoted text:
(do you hear my Lord?) ... (hear, hear!) ... (do, for God's sake, my Lord, hear, recall your wandering thoughts, this is only a history) ... (once more hear, and I have done)
Originally from 1772 is what looks to be a satire on parliament in The Batchelor: or Speculations of Jeoffry Wagstaffe, Esq, Volume 3 that shows a transitional "hear, hear him":
Omnes.] Hear, hear him ; well spoke, no governor, no minister, no administration : long life to Will Spitfire, Doctor Bolus, Lord Babeltongue, and Dir Ed-w-d N-n-m.
Finally, in 1777 is an actual transcription of "Hear! Hear!" in The Parliamentary register: or, History of the Proceedings and Debates of the House of Commons:
The Governor took notice of the scandalous means made use of to vilify Lord Pigot, and depreciate his character through the channel of the news-papers. [Here a loud cry of Hear! Hear!] In particular, respecting the article of presents. It is true, his Lordship did receive a few trifling presents ; he wished he had not. They consisted of a cow, an elephant, two mares, and a gold tea service, to the amount of 500l. which he presented to his daughter, then lately married.
I would write this your sentence as:
There are a lot of vehicles — cars, buses, airplanes, trucks — but no bicycles.
Changes from your phrase include:
- I changed your colon (:) to a dash (—). Colons work best where you just have a simple list ("cars, buses, airplanes and trucks"), but is less elegant when your list is more complex.
- I changed the nouns into their plural form, since I think you mean types of vehicles (cars, buses, and so on) and not one single example of each type (one car, one bus, and so on). If you did mean one of each, the sentence should be "There are a lot of vehicles: a car, a bus, an aeroplane, and a truck, but no bicycle".
- I moved the point about the bicycles into its own clause, separating it from the rest of the sentence with separate dashes. I did this because it is something unexpected: since you are particularly pointing out the lack of bicycles, you need to give this importance in your sentence. In fact, you might want to go all the way and break it into two sentences: "There are a lot of vehicles: cars, buses, airplanes, and trucks. There are no bicycles here."
Best Answer
It's a nonsense set question often used on a first meeting to break the ice or to amuse children. Many people recall their grandfather using the phrase. I've only found examples from the US.
Google Books
My Best Jokes and Humor: A collection of My Forty Five Years in the Barber Shop by Claude L. Greene - 2010:
The Spout Spring and (As A Bonus) Too Poor To Paint Too Proud to Whitewash by Mark Royston - 2003:
A snippet in The Gargoyle, Volume 18 - 1924 is a slight variation:
Web
Here's some recollections from around the web of (mostly) grandparents using the phrase.
Here's a 2004 forum post:
A 2006 commenter offered this as an example of idioms about idoits:
The obituary for John Albert Oden (1923 - 2010) says:
Descendants of William Lake on Family Tree Maker says:
Here's a variation in a 2003 post on Heartwarming vintage catch phrases:
From a 2012 comment:
And in the obituary (PDF) of Rick Fruin: