On/at hand

Question

"... remember to write down xyz and be sure to have it at hand when ..."
I reacted slightly against the above, thinking that it should be "on hand" rather than "at hand".
I imagined "at" is used for cases like "the end is at hand", "help is at hand" etc. but not for something that you have deliberately made sure of having within reach at a certain moment.
After a bit of googling it would seem that "have it on hand" is about four times more frequent than "have it at hand".
But are both correct ?
Is "on hand" better in the example I mentioned ?
And is there perhaps any pondedness involved in this question ?
Regards CV

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]"... remember to write down xyz and be sure to have it at hand when ..." I reacted ... "on hand" better in the example I mentioned ? And is there perhaps any pondedness involved in this question ?[/nq]
Checking the Google definition you can see that they are broadly synonyms. Just to confuse things further: I would prefer "... have it to hand when ..."!
Regards, Einde O'Callaghan

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Checking the Google definition you can see that they are broadly synonyms. Just to confuse things further: I would prefer "... have it to hand when ..."![/nq]
Thanks. But - er - what Google definition ? I was talking about number of web-hits found by Google. I didn't know it gave definitions.

Thank you, CV

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Checking the Google definition you can see that they are ... I would prefer "... have it to hand when ..."![/nq]
[nq:1]Thanks. But - er - what Google definition ? I was talking about number of web-hits found by Google. I didn't know it gave definitions.[/nq]
Do a search for "at hand" (include the quotation marks) on Google. At the top you will see 'Results 1-20 or about 24,300,000 for "at hand"' next to that you'll see a link (definition) - click on that and you'll get a definition.
BTW for a similar search for "on hand" you get about 21,800,000 hits, i.e. no significant difference". The results for "to hand" are distorted by the fact that this is also the infinitive of the verb "hand" - you get 15,800,000 hist but the definition link points out that it is more or less a synonym for "on hand" and "at hand".
Regards, Einde O'Callaghan
P.S. I only discovered this Google function quite recently.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Do a search for "at hand" (include the quotation marks) on Google. At the top you will see 'Results 1-20 or about 24,300,000 for "at hand"' next to that you'll see a link (definition) - click on that and you'll get a definition.[/nq]
Right. Here we appear to have stumbled on the "international censorship" imposed by Google I'm afraid.
www.google.com forcibly redirects you to the google page of the country you happen to be located in, google.es in my case, which does not appear to have the feature you describe.

Now, having been told about it thanks to you, I was able to get at it by going www.google.us. The "definition" link redirects you to www.answers.com.
[nq:1]BTW for a similar search for "on hand" you get about 21,800,000 hits, i.e. no significant difference". The results for "to hand" are distorted[/nq]
Those searches will not be much use at all as they are distorted by all sorts of other combinations - "women are better at hand hygiene habits" etc.
That was why I searched on "have it at/on hand" which is much less likely to be distorted.
Btw. when googling for "have it hand", "to" and "at" score approx. the same number of hits, while "on" seems to be much more popular, taking the prize at nearly four times that number

.

Thanks again for your interest and help.
Cheers CV

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Right. Here we appear to have stumbled on the "international censorship" imposed by Google I'm afraid. www.google.com forcibly redirects you ... happen to be located in, google.es in my case, which does not appear to have the feature you describe.[/nq]
I live in Germany and I've got links both to www.google.de and www.google.com - at a school where I work a number of the computers are set to link to www.google.es for those learning Spanish. Which page Google sends you to depends on the language options you set in your browser. If you are in Spain and only Spanish is set or no language is set then the default location is www.google.es, but if you have also chosen English language options, e.g. en-us or en-gb then you should have no problems accessing www.google.com. At least that's how I think it works.
Regards, Einde O'Callaghan

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I live in Germany and I've got links both to www.google.de and www.google.com - at a school where I work ... en-gb then you should have no problems accessing www.google.com. At least that's how I think it works. Regards, Einde O'Callaghan[/nq]
OK, thanks for the tip. I didn't realize the language options would affect that. I'll have a go when I get the time.

Cheers CV

On/at hand

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