Nook and cranny and corner

[Jens]

I have a question about usage for native English speakers out there. I used the term "every nook and corner" and somebody suggested that "every nook and cranny" is correct. I googled the phrases and found that "nook and corner" is actually more popular, though not by that much. My suspicion is that "nook and cranny" is the original phrase but that it's giving way to "nook and corner" since "cranny" means "corner" anyway and "corner" is a more common word.

I'm just wondering, though, which would you tend to use?

[kleindoofy]

When I read "every nook and corner" in your post, my gut reaction was, no it's "every nook and cranny," which I then saw you had added as an alternative.

It's difficult to define right and wrong about sayings. Perhaps this belongs in the category "soda/pop/soft drink" or "traditional vs. extended."

There are many sayings which repeat the same meaning using two similar words. I suppose (over time) it becomes pointless to accept only one pairing as correct.

Examples (i.e. poor examples): between a rock and a hard place; from 12 o'clock to noon; time and tide (wait for no man)

[Gillianren]

Yeah, I'd never heard "nook and corner," either. There were English muffin commercials when I was a kid which assured us that the muffins in question were full of nooks and crannies, the better to fill with butter, presumably.

[geonuc]

I'd only heard and used 'nook and cranny' before reading this thread. Jens, by what measure did you determine that 'nook and corner' is more popular?

[Jens]

I'd only heard and used 'nook and cranny' before reading this thread. Jens, by what measure did you determine that 'nook and corner' is more popular?

The "gold standard," Google. . . I got 5.2 million hits for "every nook and corner" versus 2.6 million for "every nook and cranny." Though yahoo.com came out slightly biased in the other direction.

[jokergirl]

I only ever heard cranny, but I'm not a native speaker either. Maybe an AmE vs. BE thing?

[Van Rijn]

One of the definitions for "nook is "corner." So to me it sounds a bit redundant to say "every nook and corner." You might as well say "every nook and nook."

"Cranny" has a different definition than "nook" so works better in my opinion.
:

[Strange]

As a native (British) English speaker, I have only ever heard "cranny".

[chrissy]

I always use "every nook and cranny", if I said to someone over here "every nook and corner" I think I would either get a blank look of confusion or a thump to my nose. Just speaking as a Brit.

[grapes]

I'm a crannyist as well. I thought maybe variants of "cranny" might make the difference, but I was only able to add about a third of a million hits to the cranny/crannie/crany/kranny total.

Then, I tried something interesting. I searched for "every nook and cranny" and found 3.2 million hits, as you did (well, you report 2.6), but when I searched for the less restrictive phrase "nook and cranny" I got less than half of a million hits. What's up with that? What happens to the Midas touch with the gold standard?

[SeanF]

Put me in the only-ever-heard-of-"nook and cranny" group, too.

That being said, I had never heard any of the many variations on "kitty-corner" until the Internet came along, either.

[MAPNUT]

Anybody ever hear of a cranny all by itself? Is it like a cubbyhole?

[mike alexander]

It's like a crack or a narrow slot to me. A nook is a set-off place, like a breakfast nook off the kitchen. So, to me a nook is more a cubbyhole. And a cubbyhole is akin to a nook.

[Grey]

Then, I tried something interesting. I searched for "every nook and cranny" and found 3.2 million hits, as you did (well, you report 2.6), but when I searched for the less restrictive phrase "nook and cranny" I got less than half of a million hits. What's up with that? What happens to the Midas touch with the gold standard?

Huh. That sounded so weird, I couldn't resist trying it myself. I got slightly different numbers than you did, but the same general results. I agree with you entirely: what kind of weird search algorithm is Google using that lets you find more results with a more restricted search? That also makes the method of determining popularity that Jens suggests (and that I've used myself) invalid, since you can't be sure that the number of hits Google shows is really proportional to the number of times the phrase is used. What are we going to use as a new standard of comparison?

Oh, and I found it amusing that the third hit listed for "every nook and corner" (or just "nook and corner") is this thread.

[chrissy]

Anybody ever hear of a cranny all by itself? Is it like a cubbyhole?

Everywhere, as in I've searched for it in every nook and cranny, and I still can't find it.

This metaphoric idiom pairs nook, which has meant “an out-of-the-way corner” since the mid-1300s, with cranny, which has meant “a crack or crevice” since about 1440.

[Buttercup]

I've only heard (and used) "nook and cranny."

To see "corner" in the mix is new to me.

But then I'm an American. Don't know the Brit preference.

[Gillianren]

I think we currently have people from every major English-speaking part of the world suggesting that "nook and corner" is popular in one of the others. I suspect now that it isn't popular anywhere.

[kleindoofy]

O... it sounds a bit redundant ... You might as well say "every nook and nook." ...

Nook and crany is also redundant. But that's just what the saying wants to do. By repeating the same thing or something very similar using an synonym, sayings assume the meaning of the superlative.

"every nook and crany" = everywhere
"between a rock and a hard place" = the smallest place possible (i.e. no possibility of moving)
"from 12 to noon" = immediately
"time and tide" (always/never) (tide is another word for time)

Some sayings use the concept of "everything + 1" to express utter completeness:

"everyone and his brother"
"eternity and a second"
"1001" (1000 used to be used like "gazillion," meaning "the largest number possible")

[Van Rijn]

Nook and crany is also redundant.

There's some redundancy, but "cranny" usually means a very narrow area like a crevice, while a nook can be a corner or a larger area (liike a dining nook).

Okay, here's a question: How many people have heard "corner and crevice"? That gets a pretty good google result too.

[geonuc]

"between a rock and a hard place" = the smallest place possible (i.e. no possibility of moving)

I think rock & a hard place refers to having to choose between two equally undesirable options.

[Gillianren]

"Rock and a hard place" is indeed having to choose between two things you don't want. It is akin to "between Scylla and Charybdis," and my personal favourite, "between the Devil and the deep blue sea."

[grant hutchison]

"between the Devil and the deep blue sea."

Or "the devil", if you're referring to the seams of a ship.

Grant Hutchison

[Jim]

Oh, good heavens, people! It's Every Little Crook and Nanny, of course.

(Starring Lynn Redgrave. )

[Strange]

Okay, here's a question: How many people have heard "corner and crevice"? That gets a pretty good google result too.

A while ago, Google seems to have "improved" their search algorithms and will now match sources even if they don't contain the exact words or phrase, but have closely related terms. This may be what is happening here, to account for the implausible result numbers. It might account for Van Rijn's "corner and crevice" as well.

You could, at one point, you could force a search for an exact match by prefixing the search term with +; but it seems that this doesn't always work now.

[kleindoofy]

There's some redundancy, but "cranny" usually means a very narrow area like a crevice, while a nook can be a corner or a larger area (liike a dining nook). ...

Yes, but both are dead ends, places where things get caught, so if you look everywhere, including every nook and crany (= the ultimate place in which something would get stuck), then you have looked everywhere.

I think rock & a hard place refers to having to choose between two equally undesirable options.

Yes, you and Gillian are right. I was thinking ahead to "between 12 and noon." But the redundancy still gives the superlative of "no (pleasant) option at all."

There are also opposite pairs which equal up to "everything"/"everywhere": "over hill and dale" (dale = valley), "through thick and thin," etc.

[grant hutchison]

And then there's "let or hindrance", which sounds like an opposite pair, but is actually redundant.

Grant Hutchison

[kleindoofy]

And German has a few which use synonyms from two different languages for extra stress. The interesting thing is that most people don't know the original meanings:

Mausetod = "really dead" - Mause comes from Yiddish maut = death, to be mause = to be dead + German tot = dead

Klammheimlich = "very secretly" - clam is Latin for secret + heimlich is German for secretly.

Then there are opposites which aren't opposites, simply because they're mistakes. When we wish somebody good luck by saying "break a leg," we're using a phonetic misunderstanding. It came to English from the German "Hals- und Beinbruch" ("break a neck and a leg"), but the German comes from the Yiddish/Hebrew "haslaha va baruch," which means "good luck and blessings."

[Jens]

Oh, and I found it amusing that the third hit listed for "every nook and corner" (or just "nook and corner") is this thread.

Yeah, I noticed that too. What was it Andy Warhol said about everybody getting 15 minutes of whatever?

[mugaliens]

I think rock & a hard place refers to having to choose between two equally undesirable options.

Precisely. Both of them unyielding.

[HenrikOlsen]

"Rock and a hard place" is indeed having to choose between two things you don't want. It is akin to "between Scylla and Charybdis," and my personal favourite, "between the Devil and the deep blue sea."

In Danish we have "mellem pest eller kolera", "between plague or cholera".