Neither One Thing Nor The Other

Posted on April 14, 2003 by Hg

When referring to something that she perceived to be of little value, Grandma H would describe it as being “neither use nor ornament”.
I’ve always loved that phrase – so much more expressive than a simple “useless”. It echoes William Morris‘ belief that you should “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.”

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5 Responses to Neither One Thing Nor The Other

  1. Mark says:
    April 15, 2003 at 10:22 am

    Ah, the perfect excuse to get rid of my flatmate. Thank you, Agony Uncle Hg.

  2. 'bel says:
    April 15, 2003 at 1:32 pm

    Heh. Mark beat me to it…

  3. ModSue says:
    April 15, 2003 at 9:35 pm

    Stuart, did you read our “who we are” page on modhaus.com? That is one of Shannon’s favorite quotes of all time…
    -Sue

  4. Stuart says:
    April 15, 2003 at 9:55 pm

    Oh! Yes, I’ve read that page, but must’ve absorbed it subconsciously because it didn’t spring to mind when I was writing this.

  5. D says:
    April 28, 2003 at 2:48 pm

    An empty cardboard box, a blowtorch and this as my mantra… my girlfriend would never forgive me.