Day 72: Well that's neither here nor there.-- Merlin

Well that's neither here nor there.-- Merlin, The Sword in The Stone

This often used morsel comes to us when Merlin decides to teach Arthur how things work by turning both of them into fish. Merlin tells Arthur he has instincts (as a fish) and Arthur calls out Merlin for telling him he has none (as a human) less than a minute eariler. Then Merlin tries to backtrack what he says with this tasty morsel.

This phrase has been around for centuries. I was curious about the origins and found that it was first written down in the 1580s and even Shakespeare had used it in a play! Think of the phrase as a bit of useless trivia completely unrelated to the story if you will.

Have you ever used this phrase before? Perhaps to do as Merlin did, and backtrack or negate what you had just said. Perhaps someone called you out for getting off track of your story and you used it as a way to reroute your train of thoughts back to the original story.  I'm pretty sure I have never used this quote myself, but I may just have to because it's a good one and because I tend to jump all over the place with my stories and trains of thought! If I had to guess why I don't use it often it's because I feel if it's worth my time to say it then it's always here or there and never neither here nor there.

So until next time, it's always here or there and Keep Cooking with Character!