Hear, hear (with a comma, usually set apart as a self-contained sentence) is the correct spelling of the idiomatic exclamation used to express approval for a speaker or sentiment. It’s essentially a shortened form of hear him, hear him or hear this, hear this. The common misspelling here, here is not listed in any of the dictionaries we checked.
Examples
In writing, hear, hear usually appears after a quote expressing an opinion with which the author agrees—for example:
Rep. Brian Bilbray and a whole bunch of others have championed the cutting-off of employment opportunities to dull Uncle Sam’s luster for those who have no respect for our laws. Hear, hear. [North County Times]
“Only that it was awesome,” she said, “and that the Bronco Bowl was the only concert venue that ever mattered.” Hear, hear. [Dallas Observer]
“I think we need to go back to old-fashioned basics and hard work in the nets and not try and re-invent the wheel.” Hear, hear! [Daily Telegraph]
Hear, hear is also common in internet comment sections. Here, here appears nearly as often, and if it works its way into the language we may someday have to accept it as a variant.
