"Whip," "whup," " whoop"

[Wilson Gray]

That sounds like a reasonable analysis. In the military, they say,
"Don't think! If you have orders, follow them. But don't think!" You
can see why.

"Whup" has a long history behind it. It's been used in literature
since the days of slavery, it's been used in the comics since the days
of  "Li'l Abner" and his rip-off, "Dan'l Flannel." It's been appearing
in major newspspers and magazines since the days of Cassius Clay, let
alone those of Mohammed Ali. Then, last wek, someone thought about it
and decided that the spelling should be "whoop." Oh, well. What can
you do? Consider how the British must have felt when first looking
into Webster's dictionary.

-Wilson

On 11/26/05, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "Whip," "whup," " whoop"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> My feeling is the same.  How did this "whoop" for "whup" even get started ?  Maybe writers  thought that "whup" must rhyme with "pup" and "whoop" must then have the vowel of "book."
>
>   JL
>
> Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>   ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Wilson Gray
> Subject: "Whip," "whup," " whoop"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Has anyone else noticed - and, likewise, perhaps, been annoyed by -
> the shift in the eye-dialect spelling of the non-standard
> pronunciation of "whip" from "whup" to "whoop"? For me, "whup" has the
> pronunciation [hwUp], wherein ]U] is the -oo- of "book." OTOH, "whoop"
> is an sE word with the pronunciation, [hup], as in in the blues line,
> "Whoopin' [hupIn] 'n' holl'in', screamin' awl night lawng." As a
> child, I suffered the indignity of an occasional ass-whuppin'. But, an
> ass-*whoopin'*? I don' think so.
> --
> -Wilson Gray
>
>
>
>
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