Glory ,'The Killer In Me'
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
1) Can you use "on the other hand" without "on the one hand"?
People absolutely do. And I'm not getting into the whole prescriptivist/descriptivist thing on that one!
2) Do you see "however," "nevertheless," and "on the other hand" as equivalents?
Not immediately, but on second thought, maybe? I would say so, but on the other hand, maybe not. However, maybe not. Nevertheless, maybe not. OK, I think not "nevertheless."
I agree with Jesse
Timelies all!
Have a headache and various aches and pains. So of course, there is nothing in the house for pain relief. Bleah.
I find pressing on the bridge of my nose helps relieve a headache just a little.
I hardly ever say "on the one hand", but I use "on the other hand" all the time.
I would not describe the other words as equivalent, either. However, I could probably use them interchangeably. Nevertheless, they seem to have different connotations.
The wording of your answers is cracking me up. Stop messing with my mind people! It's bad enough I spend half my day on these questions.
OK, specifically, OTOH seems like saying "here's an objection to that thing I just said, it didn't occur to me before, maybe I should rethink", however=but, nevertheless means "ignore anything to the contrary of what I'm about to say because this is what we're going to do".
That could just be me.
I don't think I've ever said, "on the one hand" but I do say, "on the other hand" quite a bit and "on the third hand" more often than my coworkers would probably like.
I agree that "nevertheless" definitely gives off more of a "despite all that's gone before" vibe than the other two.
Like I said, I'm trying to give them a more precise idea of how it works, regardless of whether it would always be translated that way. "Conversely" is probably the most accurate, but that seems a bit stuffy.
I try to avoid what my father said frequently, which was "and on the other hand, he had warts." It runs through my head everytime someone says "On the one hand," though.