In his syndicated column of 4-30-00, humorist Dave Barry ruminated on whether the Lone Ranger’s call to action was pronounced “Hi-Ho Silver” or “Hi-Yo Silver” (http://www.herald.com/content/archive/living/barry/1999/docs/april30.htm). Barry’s not-so-rigorous research efforts were basically limited to asking the opinion of his author-friends like Bill Safire and Amy Tan, and no satisfying answer emerged.
Personally, I thought this was a silly premise for a column, since I have a pretty good memory of the Lone Ranger saying “Hi-Ho.” But when I checked out a bunch of Lone Ranger websites, darned if they don’t all spell it “Hi-Yo!”
So my question is: Why would I possibly remember Clayton Moore (et al) as saying “Hi-Ho Silver, Away” instead of the other pronuciation? And am I the only one?
MODERATOR NOTE ADDED 25 July 2013: Please note that this thread is originally from 2000. New posts are not added until Post #8. – CKDH
My personal crackpot theory is that the Lone Ranger was saying, “Hie-ho” - hie meaning “get going” and the “ho” added because the LR was, after all, a cowboy (Westward Ho!) It was a posher way of saying “giddyup.”
I think the “hi-yo” came about because of the tendency we have to speak words as rapidly as possible. To do this, we usually drop a few letters, but even without that “h” sound, it still takes time to say “i-o” so we speed the transition between those vowels with the added “y” sound. Say “Ohio” a few times and see if you don’t eventually say, “o-hi-yo.”
My other crackpot theory is that almost all vowels in English tend to want to become schwas, so someday it will be pronounced, “Huh-yuh, Silvuh!” anyway.
Okay, I like that theory (Hie-Ho becoming Hiyo through lazy pronunciation). But I guess to really clinch it, we’d need to find an old Lone Ranger script or the like, to see just how they spelled it.
Now that’s a shame. I think the show would have been much better if Tonto was riding double with the Lone Ranger. It would perhaps have ingrained car-pooling in the american consciousness, and been an excellent role model to teen-agers showing that real men are not afraid of closeness. Of course, one would hope that Tonto would have been allowed to drive at least half of the time.
I think the more important question is …" Did the Lone Ranger where his mask to bed each night. In an interview in the early 60’s Tonto confirmed that he did, but then the question became how did Tonto know this bit of information.
You know how the Hollywood rumor mills work, it almost ruined their careers.
The Lone ranger and Tonto slept under the stars near a campfire all the time. Nor wold it have been unlikely they shared a bed in some kind of hotel had there actually been such characters. Of course Tonto would know. Now if it had been that Jay Silverheels knew Clayton Moore slept with the mask on, that might have raised some questions.
I’m a child of the 50s (wait: I’m getting me and Robert Klein mixed up) and I watched some of the later seasons of The Lone Ranger when they were first broadcast. I couldn’t believe Dave Barry when he wrote that the famous cry was Hi-Ho. That’s nuts. Everybody knew it was Hi-Yo! That’s what famous means; everybody knows it.
But “MacArthur Park” is not the worst song ever, either. So much for Dave Barry.
