Most everybody is familiar with “hemming and hawing”, which means hesitating, dissembling, foot-shuffling indecision. If there’s something unpleasant that needs to be done, or a big mistake to be explained, you might encounter some hemming and hawing first.
People have been hemming and hawing for a long time. Gervase Babington referred to it in 1588 in “A profitable exposition of the Lord’s Prayer:” “Wee gape and wee yawne, we hem and we hawke.” In 1786 Fanny Burney admitted to it in a letter: “I hemmed and hawed—but the Queen stopped reading.” You can find the phrase in common use for at least the past six centuries. It’s kind of surprising that all six centuries proceeded in such an orderly sequence, since there’s been so much hemming and hawing along the way.
Both “hem” and “haw” are “imitative words;” they repeat the sounds that people might make when not quite ready to actually say something. When standing alone, “hem” is usually seen in “ahem.” It’s also sometimes spelled “hum,” as in “ummm…” And when standing by itself, “haw” is usually “aww.” And so…er…that is…ah…well, um, that’s really about all there is to say about hemming and hawing.
