Is "yesterday night" OK?

[riverkid]

Originally Posted by DavyBCN

Having said this, I do not agree with Davy that 'last evening' is correct either in current usage.

Davy, if I'm not mistaken, you're the only Davy in this thread.

I certainly wouldn't say it, anymore than I would say 'at evening' for the same reason - and I don't know anyone else who would. The only 'correct' usages are 'yesterday evening' and 'the previous evening'.

I was so astounded by Davy's claim that "last evening" is not in current use that I thought I'd do a little checking.

Results 1 - 10 of about 2,890,000 English pages for "last evening".

Results 1 - 10 of about 2,520,000 English pages for "yesterday evening".

6666

[Coffa]

Originally Posted by river

The OED defines yesternight as "on the night of yesterday, last night."
Shakespeare used it: "She looked yesternight fairer than I ever saw her. . ." Troilus & Cressida I don't think is used today, though. But it is a word.

"kolbarakasengi" is a word too - it just happens to be a nonsense one .

One needs to distinguish between current English usage and words that appear in the OED. English is a promiscuous language, perhaps the most promiscuous - I can think of few languages where a TV programme ("Call My Bluff") could be constructed on the premise that even highly-educated native English speakers would be so unaware of words in the standard dictionary of their own language that they could genuinely not even decide amongst three alternative definitions of them. Even the most educated of English speakers do not even KNOW the MAJORITY of words in the OED.

It is often forgotten that Shakespeare was a POPULIST playwright in Early Modern English. His audiences didn't find his vocabulary or grammatical constructions 'difficult' - they simply are not generally in common usage today.

"Yesternight" is simply the corollary of "yesterday" in EME, but NOBODY uses it today. I live less than 20 miles from Stratford, and I often watch Shakespeare plays at the RSC, but I still find the language 'difficult' unless I concentrate - it is, to a great degree, a foreign (albeit very homologous) language.

[Coffa]

Originally Posted by river

The OED defines yesternight as "on the night of yesterday, last night."
Shakespeare used it: "She looked yesternight fairer than I ever saw her. . ." Troilus & Cressida I don't think is used today, though. But it is a word.

"kolbarakasengi" is a word too - it just happens to be a nonsense one .

One needs to distinguish between current English usage and words that appear in the OED. English is a promiscuous language, perhaps the most promiscuous - I can think of few languages where a TV programme ("Call My Bluff") could be constructed on the premise that even highly-educated native English speakers would be so unaware of words in the standard dictionary of their own language that they could genuinely not even decide amongst three alternative definitions of them. Even the most educated of English speakers do not even KNOW the MAJORITY of words in the OED.

It is often forgotten that Shakespeare was a POPULIST playwright in Early Modern English. His audiences didn't find his vocabulary or grammatical constructions 'difficult' - they simply are not generally in common usage today.

"Yesternight" is simply the corollary of "yesterday" in EME, but NOBODY uses it today. I live less than 20 miles from Stratford, and I often watch Shakespeare plays at the RSC, but I still find the language 'difficult' unless I concentrate - it is, to a great degree, a foreign (albeit very homologous) language.

[Coffa]

Originally Posted by riverkid

6666

Hmm, actually I wrote the quote you attributed to Davy - he just missed off the initial quote tag when he cut-and-pasted.

I'd just like to point out that Google searches are not a very reliable way of determining correct English usage - not least because most of the hits return serendipitous conjunctions unrelated to the grammar of the phrase.

[riverkid]

Originally Posted by Coffa

Hmm, actually I wrote the quote you attributed to Davy - he just missed off the initial quote tag when he cut-and-pasted.

My apologies, Davy.

I'd just like to point out that Google searches are not a very reliable way of determining correct English usage - not least because most of the hits return serendipitous conjunctions unrelated to the grammar of the phrase.

Please explain further, Coffa. I'm not clear on what you mean.