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

By: Curtis

Curtis — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:12:27 +0000

I think this has been around long enough that it now qualifies as proper grammar. Remember, usage dictates grammar rules, not the other way around. Once enough people start using a certain word/phrase, it becomes grammatically acceptable.

However, your words always will show what kind of person you are. We judge people who say “ain’t” differently than people who say “is not.” Similarly, we’ll just those who say “a whole nother” differently than we judge those who say “an entirely different thing.” Some will say that the “ain’t”/”a whole nother” people are more authentic; others will say that they are less educated. Depends on your perspective…but it doesn’t make the phrase grammatically unacceptable.

By: Johnny

Johnny — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 07:30:55 +0000

Tmesis isn’t proper English grammar. It was a proper part of ancient Greek grammar. However even in Greek it required the inclusion of a verb so I don’t see why “a whole nother” would qualify as a tmesis. But people just dying to justify “a whole nother” always look up and then use tmesis. In English speaking societies use tmesis primarily as a way to make something humorous. But it’s never been proper grammar.

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.