Since I haven't heard a peep of you, I tried to get in touch with you."

Ja wirklich?
Einfach "peep"?

Kann ich dann auch sagen: "I'd love to hear a peep from you"? ((Oder vielleicht "of you"?))

Annika: ich bin kein native Speaker; die Variante '..haven't heard a peep of you' ist gängig, daher nehme ich mal an, daß Dein Beispiel genauso verständlich ist...

just say hi sometime

I'd love to hear from you

let me know you're still among the living

send me some smoke signals

aber mit "peep" tut sich da eigentlich wenig

I agree with Kai's suggestions (though I've never heard anyone use the one with the smoke signals), or maybe something like

Could you just drop me a line to let me know you're okay?
Any signs of life out there?
etc.


Bubi's suggestion would be possible with the right preposition:

I haven't heard a peep FROM you lately
The children were so absorbed we didn't hear a peep OUT OF them for an hour

hm -- us: what, you've never been out West, hombre?

as a western canadian I definitely got the "smoke signals" one and i think it paints the best image of what you're trying to get across... "signs of life" seems like it's an alien contact thing, and not just someone you've fallen out of touch with.

laura CDN: thanks, pard, I tip my (proverbial) hat to you

http://www.phrasen.com/uebersetze,to-not-have...

hm-us: Ich weiß, daß 'from' als Präposition möglich ist; doch habe ich 'of' verwendet, weil ich es so auf zwei Seiten für englische Redensarten so gefunden hatte (siehe Links) - ist das definitiv falsch?

Yes, 'of' is wrong, as far as I know; as I said, it should be 'from' or 'out of.'

Some unscrupulous websites just copy lists from each other. It's often better to check an English monolingual dictionary; Oxford and Cambridge have good learners' dictionaries online, I believe. Or you might look for websites written by native English speakers (.com, .uk, .edu, .ac.uk, .ca, .au, .nz, etc.) for learners of English as a second/foreign language (ESL, EFL).

That is, I suppose it could be BE only, but I've never seen it even in a BE book.

a peep of you stimmt schon, doch hat es eine andere Bedeutung: "I nary saw a peep of you." Hat wohl mehr mit dem Peeping Tom zu tun.

Kai: I beg your pardon? Do you mean 'nary a peep'? You do realize that that's a fixed phrase and that 'nary' is otherwise largely archaic? And even so, it would usually be 'I heard nary a peep out of you,' wouldn't it?

I don't know where you came up with that, but I wouldn't say it's common enough for a non-native to devote any significant memory space to it.

well, hm, if you read my post again, maybe this time a bit more closely (I know it's getting a tad late in NY), you will notice that the verb setting the stage here in connection with "peep" is "saw," as in: "I haven't SEEN a peep of you lately, Tom."

As I also indicated, this changes the meaning a bit. And yes, I do know about "nary."

P.S.: If you google "saw a peep" or "haven't seen a peep," I believe you'll get the idea that it's not as archaic as you claim. Very British perhaps, yes, but not archaic.

If anything, I guess, my comment was meant to explain to Bubi that he hadn't gotten it all wrong, just slightly

I, too, merely wanted to show Bubi that he wasn't totally on the wrong track; I just don't think your rather odd explanation is necessarily any closer.

First, I read your post closely enough, thank you. Second, if you think Brits say 'nary saw a' (as opposed to 'saw nary a'), or 'saw a peep of' (more than 'heard a peep out of'), or use 'nary' frequently in modern language, I think it's up to you to provide evidence (with identifiable sources, of course). And third, no idea what you're on about, as the Brits in question might say, but it's not that late, and I don't live in NY.

Not that any of this is particularly relevant to the question at hand, since we agree that 'peep' isn't really the best choice. Maybe we should just leave it at that.

auch möglich; bißchen infantil, aber witziSch:

"Peekaboo." - "Kuckuck!"

hm – us: obviously, I must have confused you with someone on this forum who once mentioned he lived in Upstate New York. Sorry if that’s not you.

Peep, as we both know, has lots of different meanings, from the sound a little bird makes (noun) and making that sound (verb) all the way to catching a first glimpse of something (verb) to that glimpse itself (noun). There are also many different other meanings for “peep” in connection with additional words, mainly as compund noun.

“Seeing a peep of “ something or someone, I believe, is a common enough phrase for me not to have to actually cite it, don’t you think? Maybe other BE or AE natives might comment on this.

Also, it is possible that “nary” isn’t very common in your neck of the woods (wherever that may be, and I don’t live in the UK), but in these here parts, it’s quite common. In fact, just for fun, I googled “nary a” and got 2.7 milion hits, a lot of them, from what I can tell, taken out of American newspaper articles such as the Los Angeles Times, Baltimore Sun (in an article about the NFL there), and a writer for the St. Petersburg Times (Florida) even writes in the fourth paragraph of his article: “nary a peep of concern.”

So, nary, peep, and all these other little words mean so many different things in so many parts of the world, I think it can be impossible to be absolutley certain about the exact meaning of any given word.

And, lastly, I know I’m veering off on a tangent here, but I think that’s part of the fun of this forum. I don’t know about you, but I’m not getting paid for spewing my advice here on LEO, so I might as well enjoy it when it gets a bit interesting. And language is just that: interesting.

Possibly you're thinking of Helmi, who, I believe, is a native German speaker who has lived in the US for a long time and signs with 'US.'

Clearly 'nary a' is still used, but I would still say that it has a deliberately archaic tinge and that 'not a' is much more common.

And, once again, you might reread your own post of Fri Sep 8 01:30:32. Unless my eyes deceive me, you did not even write 'saw nary a.'

Of course OT topics can be interesting. People might occasionally say 'didn't see a peep of,' but it doesn't sound all that common to me, either distinctly regional and colloquial, or, as you yourself first suggested, possibly more BE. I would think something like 'didn't see hide or hair of' or 'didn't see any sign of' would be more typical, or 'didn't hear a word/peep from / out of' in the particular context of letter writing.

So, no, I don't think it's too obvious to need evidence at all, far from it. If you or someone else wanted to provide examples and compare BE/AE usage, it might be instructive for all of us. But I'll bow out here, as I don't want to run this into the ground.

strictly about nary, and then I've had enough, too: it's one of those words you can place in different parts of the sentence, because it is a contraction of two other words, and depending on whom you believe, it's either "ne'er a" (which would probably be the British origin) or "not one" (or "not a"). Consequently, you can place nary in different positions of the sentence structure: Nary a peep was heard (seen), I nary saw (heard) a peep (which is less common), or I saw (heard) nary a peep. I guess it's just a matter of personal nary reference.

That's it, I'm done.

not a squeak

Not a squeak of my old joints:-)

is my trusty native British source Germanified, or can you not also say "give us a peep" (or rather "giz a peep")?

Hans... that might well have been enough or longed for...;--/

Kai: "I nary saw a peep of you" is the wrong word order. I saw nary a peep, yes, Nary a peep I saw, yes. But not the first. I don't know what to base it on except "native gut feeling", but "nary a" have to stay together.

tanja: You can say "give us a buzz" in the US, a very close relation to the peep.

I don’t know about you, but I’m not getting paid for spewing my advice here on LEO, so
no for ego gratification

Kai u. hm-us: Thank you Kai for your helpful and often funny and amusing hints - they spice things up around here and I enjoy that...

And thanks to hm-us for the advice as to the monolingual dictionary...
At least I think now you'll know for sure that Kai and I are not the same person as you assumed... not least, because it's obvious, that his English is much better than mine.

i thought Kai is a girl's name

noli: how come you think that? I, for example, am quite sure that hm-us is a female...

Isn't there a male German TV presenter called Kai Pflaume?

Although this has gone on long enough, I really must agree 100% with hm-us As a natve English speaker BE I have only ever heard of hearing a peep out of or from. I think that the fact that the word is onomatopoeic is a clue that the verb is hear and not see -:)

I agree 100% with hm-us and just a... too.

then I suppose to you the term "Peeping Tom" (Spanner) means someone's standing in the bushes making funny sounds instead of staring through someone's window, right, LK and just... ? What about the word "peepers" as slang for "eyes?" I support Kai entirely with his diatribe.

No of course it doesn't! Two different meanings with two different applications

"Are the children asleep? - Yes, I haven't heard a peep out of them for hours"

"I think I'll go upstairs and have a peep at them just to make sure"

The first is the one required by the original questioner.

And for your information, the expressions "Peeping Tom" and "peepers" for eyes are both familiar to me; however, neither of them have anything whatever to do with "heard a peep"...

Put that in your peep and smoke it!

LK: es ist immer wieder nervig, wenn Leute posten, ohne die vorhergehenden Beiträge richtig zu lesen - vor allem, wenn sie dann gar keinen Beitrag zur Sache leisten...

jeepers, creepers, can't we agree on peepers? Jeepers, creepers, I can't imagine why.

all i know this piep ... gives me the pips

Quite agree with LK.

Also, I think "haven't heard a peep of you" sounds very odd. The same goes for "I'd love to hear a peep from you".

And I find the concept of seeing a peep rather strange, since, as far as I am aware, a peep is a sound or utterence.

Noah W: utterance (not utterence)

morning Bubi; quite a lively discourse here, isn't it? :-)

Noah: I'd suggest you consult your dictionary to see the various and manifold (lovely word) meanings of "peep." I did.

Not sure I quite got the point of your post addressed to me Bubi.
In case it wasn't clear, my post was a reply to peeper's...

kai: must disagree with you about “Seeing a peep of” sth. or someone being a common enough phrase - nope, it ain't.

You either peep “at” sth. or someone, or sth. “peeps out” (guckt/schaut heraus). But 'seeing a peep of” would be doppelt gemoppelt.
As to usage of “nary a..”: my understanding corresponds to hm's and selkie's comments hereon.

Kai

I did - and managed to overlook the meanings "a momentary view" and "a quick look".

LK:
<No of course it doesn't! Two different meanings with two different applications>
<The first is the one required by the original questioner.>
Ich beziehe mich zum einen auf die Sätze oben von Dir, weil Kai in seinen Postings nichts Gegenteiliges gesagt hat, was Du anscheinend überlesen hast..

Zum anderen auf diesen einen Satz - Fri Sep 8 11:29:41 2006: <I agree 100% with hm-us and just a... too.>
Ich verstehe die Aussage dahinter nicht 'a...too' und zur Sache trägt er auch nichts bei - es wurden schließlich zu dem Thema bis dahin schon viele versch. Aspekte beleuchtet...

Morgen, Kai! Da fängt der Tag gut an, wa?

Bubi: tja, das macht aber auch Spass, oder?

LK 's posting at 15.06 explains exactly and succintly the usage(s) of the word peep in BE.Non native speakers can rely absolutely on these examples

das stimmt schon, aber darum geht es gar nicht...

Bubi:
"Ich beziehe mich zum einen auf die Sätze oben von Dir, weil Kai in seinen Postings nichts Gegenteiliges gesagt hat, was Du anscheinend überlesen hast.."

Yes, but as I've already said, I wasn't addressing Kai, I was addressing peeper Fri Sep 8 16:02:34 2006 ...was DU anscheinend überlesen hast.. !!!
Peeper asked me a question to which I replied immediately in the next post.

"Ich verstehe die Aussage dahinter nicht 'a...too"' -
Full version: "I agree 100% with hm-us and just a (SUGGESTION) too"

The poster called "just a suggestion" agreed with hm-us. I agree with both of them about: HEARING a peep FROM / OUT OF someone.
They were both rejecting the idea of "SEEING a peep from" - I agree with them.

The fact that one can "peep" through a crack using ones eyes has got nothing to do with "hearing a peep from / out of someone". On that, hm-us, Just a Suggestion and I are all agreed.

Sorry, but you aren't reading people's posts very carefully yourself; if you were doing so we wouldn't have got into this pointlessly confusing mess! Why you think I'm even in a dialogue with Kai at all I have no idea!

LK
I think you are wasting your time.

Noah W: yes, so do I!
Just a Suggestion: Thank you very much! It's very refreshing to be understood!
:-)

Bubi:

LK: es ist immer wieder nervig, wenn Leute posten, ohne die vorhergehenden Beiträge richtig zu lesen - vor allem, wenn sie dann gar keinen Beitrag zur Sache leisten...

1. Don't throw stones when you're standing in a glasshouse.
2. "LK 's posting at 15.06 explains exactly and succintly the usage(s) of the word peep in BE.Non native speakers can rely absolutely on these examples"
"das stimmt schon" - Bubi.
Then why write: "gar keinen Beitrag zur Sache leisten..."??!!

Do you know what "booby" means in English?!

LK: Du hast in Deiner Antwort zu Peepers Beitrag nichts gesagt, was nicht schon gesagt wurde - und er hat auch nichts Gegenteiliges gesagt.
Wirst Du immer persönlich, wenn Dir die Argumente ausgehen?

The wonderful thing about the English language is that it’s in constant flux and flow, probably more so than any other modern language, and particularly in its vernacular, its slang, and its many dialects. Nothing stays the same for very long. What was “cool” in the fifties became “groovy” in the sixties, “gnarly” in the eighties, “rad” in the nineties, and is “cool” again today. Or, if youre’ a surfer, life’s just “knarly.” In fact, the simple word “say” seems to have been replaced by “is like,” as in “He was like, I don’t wanna go there, and I was like, well then don’t go,” etc.
Unfortunately, there seems to be a rigidity here on this forum concerning the English language, and I don’t know who all these people are claiming that only this or only that is correct or proper, or that, in British English, this or that is “never!” used. Good grief!
There are literally thousands of people – presumably hundreds of thousands – who use the term “see a peep of” on a daily basis. I have found them (yes, by googling) all over the US, in Scotland, England, you name it. Unless someone here can tell me (and prove) that he or she personally has invented the English language, such a person claiming that only this or that is proper English, well, they can kiss my you-know-what.
Maybe y’all are scientists whose vocabulary has gone unchanged for centuries, but as far as I’m concerned, English is alive and well and blooming in a myriad different colors. Just go out there and catch a peep of it.

Annika: “Long time no hear” und/oder “you still alive 'n kicking? (= scherzhafte Variante, wenn man längere Zeit keine Lebenszeichen von jemandem erhalten hat) wären gängige Redewendungen, wenn auch ohne “Piep”-Laute... :-)