No, it’s not a corruption. It’s law French - oyez! is the command “hear!”, addressed to more than one person. (And of course the ‘z’ is silent.) It’s a hangover from the days after the Norman conquest when court proceedings in England were routinely counducted in Norman French. “Hear ye!” is in fact a translation into English of “oyez!”.
Thank you. I did not know that. I’m chagrined, yet pleased to have learned something new.
Great story.
Yeah, we’re all liars and don’t know shit.
Oyez, the way the french plural imperative of ouir [umlaut over the ‘i’, I am on my US keyboard right now] - in other words, the norman french invader way to tell a bunch of unruly anglo-saxons to sit down, shut up and listen. Hear ye is simply a translation into slightly archaic english.
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Properly given, the command should sound like this:
“Platoon” (pause) “Ah-tenn-SHUHN” (inflection on the last syllable.)
The pause should be the time amount of time a step takes. Normal marching cadence is 120 steps per minute. That’s 2 steps per second, so the pause should be a half second. …
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Hello world. Nice thread randomly found, re-read, bit-o’-info-added and two queries.
The details you and others give (“…When that foot strikes the ground, the leader gives the commamd… next step … pause…next time the right foot strikes the ground, … command…”)–as well as the meaning/need for them–are superb and impressive.
- About the rate: is this the rate demanded in all military services, for something termed "something something “parade(?) march?”
a) A surprisingly little known fact (/not snarck) is that the numbered uptown/dowtown blocks are 20 to a mile, moreover, in a New York approved/normal cadence, is covered in 20 minutes. So that’s my normal marching rate.
b) On a more general level, the 120-beat is fascinating as a cultural fact (us being Babylonian and all and comfortable with clock time), and, I’m wondering if emprically physiologically, if there’s something afoot (heh) about human proportions and stride.
[Mentally most of us can count off seconds even without ‘one-miss-i-sip-pi’ verbalization help; FTR, as a conductor I was trained/am able now only as a party trick (:() to internalize/direct (beat) any rate (showable with my body) by having a rock solid/automatic recall to 60 second tempi.]
Which leads to:
- Does anyone here have any experience with different pace regimes such as those used in “ceremonial” guard duty (which is, of course, a guard as well). The number of tempi and step-types can be extraordinary. Is it part of somebody’s job description/rank/MOS to know each and everyone? (* Flash image of Bear Nenno waking up in the Marines * )
The US cases I’m aware of–actually a single “case” only, at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier–pale in comparison with those of the Brits and other nations (I believe the India/Pakistan changing of the border guard is a sight to behold). I guess even the basics of goose-stepping (Russian, not Nazi) is a closed book to US servicemen and NCOs.
ETA: I skipped over the evidence in this thread I had already mentioned (because everyone had to know) My Spectacularness.
Damn.
Just found this vid od a drill instructor cadence calling contest. Impressive for any number of reasons–vocal quality, rhythm, tune, command. Makes me want to ask Bear for a tape of his own.
Great moments in typos:
When the Roman Legions were on the march, did the Centurions shout “Sinister; Dexter” to keep them in step?
A quick Google found a discussion of the march and orders along it in **Caesar’s Army: A Study of the Military Art of the Romans in the Last Days of the Republic, Judson (1961) **, at 100 steps a minute, 120 for quicktime, “exactly according to Upton’s Tactics, the standard of the US Army…” I have no doubt someone has looked into your question. Much more info at the cite.
Also, found this, which sounds interesting:
*Annals of Science *
Volume 54, 1997 - Issue 5
Repetitive order and the human walking apparatus: Prussian military science versus the Webers’ locomotion research
Mary Mosher Flesher
Pages 463-487 | Received 01 Oct 1996, Published online: 18 Sep 2006
Summary
The addition of ‘fire’ to the European battle repertoire resulted in the close-order drill for manoeuvres of the line. Begun in late sixteenth-century Netherlands and perfected in eighteenth-century Prussia under Frederick the Great, the drill’s precision marching evolved into a military science which conceived what infantry acquired through rigorous training as a lawful ‘second nature’ of men. In contrast, the liberal Webers’ 1836 locomotion research orientation was, as was that of French skirmishing, one of natural self-regulation. Later Prussian military science, restored in Imperial Germany, was merged into locomotion science.