w(h)igger

[Mark_Mandel at DRAGONSYS.COM]

Shannon Detchemendy <detch at UMR.EDU> writes:

>>>>>
I can not tell you for certain what the origin is.   But, I do know it
is spelled "WHIGGER" as in "White Nigger".  The term has been in use for
at least 10-15 years also.  The term is also primarily used by white
people as well.  I have not ever heard it said by a black person.
<<<<<

It Seems To Me that this is a word that is much more often spoken than written,
and is usually transmitted orally rather than in writing-- unlike, say,
"casuistic" or "silicovolcanoconiosis".

Given that, the spelling you have seen presumably represents somebody's
understanding of the origin and meaning of a word learned orally, rather than
representing a chain of written transmission from the originators of the word.
And since American pronunciation does not distinguish between the spellings "w"
and "wh", the "wh-" in the spelling can't be a transcription; it must be an
interpretation. And as such, it is equivalent to a report that somebody thought
that the word comes from "wh(ite n)igger".

-- Mark A. Mandel