Comments on: Other, Another and “A Whole Nuther”

By: JJ

JJ — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 21:17:33 +0000

It would be a nice tmesis, but I really don’t think it is.
If it was, people would pronounce it “a-whole-nother” as in “acorn” or “a-hole” instead of “a whole nother” as in “away” or “a hole”. I think the latter is more common, or at least earlier. Although, if some people do pronounce it in the former way, then it’s a tmesis for them

The elision hypothesis is interesting, but I would support the metanalysis hypothesis – I can imagine it being born colloquially in the fashion of “That’s an( )other thing, a whole ‘nother thing”.

“A whole another” with two articles would be illogical – “a whole other” feels more “correct” (but still colloquial). For formal use, I would recommend Maeve’s “another thing entirely” or “another thing altogether”

By: Jon

Jon — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:33:49 +0000

Ah, PF beat me to it. I had “A whole ‘nother” down as just another example of t-freakin’-mesis too

By: PF

PF — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:59:53 +0000

I believe that the phrase “a whole ‘nother” is in fact an excellent example of a tmesis, the figure of speech in which a word or phrase is split (the word comes from the Greek for cutting) by another word that serves to make the original more emphatic. The most common examples generally involve profanity or almost-profanity: abso-freakin’-lutely, for instance.

“A whole ‘nother” is abso-freakin’-lutely my favorite example of tmesis.

By: Maeve

Maeve — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 13:07:25 +0000

Kristi,
“A whole another thing” is not the way to go. As you say, it sounds pretty weird. That’s because it’s not idiomatic.

I think that “a whole nother thing” can be translated as “another thing entirely” or “another thing altogether.”

By: KS

KS — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 22:12:54 +0000

I’m one of those who don’t use “nuther.” Grammatically, I know it’s harmless, it’s just that there are people who think that’s a real word, that’s what bothers me. Oh well.