How does one define “Click here?”
Well, let’s start with “click” (pronounced klik, a verb),
(1) to strike or move with a click sound: click heels together, clicking castanets, a clicking typewriter, “the lock clicked as the door closed,” or a Morse code machine clicks out a message on the spaceship bridge in a 1950s movie.
(2) to fit exactly in a group. Buffy the Vampire Slayer was not part of the sorority click at the Prom; to fit in with a team, “the group’s teamwork was clicking”
(3) to succeed – William Shatner’s style clicked with the character of Captain Kirk
(4) to push down the button on a computer mouse in order to activate a link in text.
Now as to “here” (he-r, adverb),
(1) at this point in space, in this location (as opposed to there); or at this point in time.
(2) the juncture in an argument or a point in time: “here is where the Roman Empire developed spaceships”; the present life or existence “Happy here, and more happy hereafter” (Francis Bacon).
(3) a mild rebuke “Here now, you two robots stop fighting.” Sometimes used for extra emphasis, “I found this here Monster Of Boggy Creek videotape in the bargain bin.”
Ancient meaning: in Anglo-Saxon times “here” referred to an army of invaders.
So when the two words are used together, “Click here” could mean an army of vampire slayers invading the Prom.
© Bill Laidlaw. All rights reserved. Copies may be used in classrooms for educational purposes by English teachers with a sense of humor.
