It's neither here nor there

George Carlin got me thinking about this one while reading his book When Will Jesus Bring The Pork Chops?

George is saying that there are really only two places you or an object can actually be and that is here or there. This goes along with saying that you can't be in two places at one time. So my simple mind agrees with this idea. I'm here so I can't be over there unless I get up and move to there. Now the former here is now the new there and the former there is the new here.

So this phrase "It's neither here nor there" then causes confusion because it means it's nowhere or invisible or just doesn't matter at all. It doesn't exist if it is neither here nor there.

So my brain gets onto the old philosophical question of "If a tree falls in the forest and you are not there, does it make a sound?" Ding Ding Ding Ding

There's the answer. Nope. Why because you are not there and the tree isn't here so it's neither here nor there and the whole concept just doesn't matter.

Unless of course, you are the poor unfortunate squirrel that is about to get whacked on the head by the falling tree. And then one could argue that the sound that the squirrel heard was very short indeed. The squirrel isn't talking, or for that matter, doing much of anything now. And now the squirrel is neither here nor there. Just his little cooling body left there.

And someone is asking where do squirrels go when they die? The answer to that question is probably "Neither here nor there".