RE "whup" - "whoop"

[Wilson Gray]

On 12/9/05, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: RE "whup" - "whoop"
>
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>
> The spelling "whoop" has been around for a while. E.g.,
>
>   1906 Nathaniel Southgate Shaler _From Old Fields_ (Boston: Houghton
> Mifflin) 12 You must remember how / He whooped old Hood right off of
> Nashville field.
>
>   JL


Does this mean that he _whipped_ old Hood off the field or that that he
hooted him or some such off the field?

-Wilson

"Dennis R. Preston" <preston at MSU.EDU> wrote:
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> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: "Dennis R. Preston"
>
> Subject: RE "whup" - "whoop"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> This (w)hu~oop bidness is indeed complicated. These seem to be the
> players:
>
> Chiefly Southern US, "whup," almost certainly a Scottish version of
> "whip," is pronounced with both /hw/ and /w/ and with both the CUT
> vowel and the BOOK vowel. The latter pronunciation perhaps gives rise
> to the temptation for "oo" spellings, which some of us have found
> odd. I certainly do. I can get the BOOK vowel from "u" spellings
> (e.g., "butcher"), but I admit the list of "u" spellings for BOOK
> vowels seems short.
>
> The potential confusion with "whoop" is obvious, although the
> spellings and pronunciations of this item are most curious. It
> appears to be Middle English, from Old French "hopper" with a similar
> meaning to today's "yell." But this French "h" word was often
> rendered as "wh" (look at what happened to OE "whore"!). It seems to
> me, however, that the ME "wh" spelling rendered all three
> possibilities (/w/, /hw/, and /h/) in modern pronunciation (is this
> the only example?). Even though I am a good /hw/-er, I am tempted to
> give this item the /h/ pronunciation in "hoopin' and hollerin'" from
> an alliterative attraction. Of course, the usual reduction of /hw/ is
> to /w/, and I have indeed heard all three possibilities in "whooping
> crane" and "whooping cough."
>
> dInIs, whose spellings are clear
> 1) I whup guys littler'n me
> 2) I whoop it up when I am in a joyful mood (and even when I am
> "/hupIn/ and hollerin'," my spelling is still "wh."
> 3) I shoot hoops
> I have great sympathy for those whose phonologies are not so well
> tuned to their orthographies.
>
> --
> Dennis R. Preston
> University Distinguished Professor
> Department of English
> Morrill Hall 15-C
> Michigan State University
> East Lansing, MI 48824-1036 USA
> Office: (517) 353-4736
> Fax: (517) 353-3755
>
>
>
>
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--
-Wilson Gray