a whole "nuther"?

Fri Jun 10 04:41:42 UTC 2005

On Jun 9, 2005, at 9:10 PM, Janis Vizier Nihart wrote:

> I have heard the expression before but never really thought much
> about it.  I heard someone on TV say today about the Miss America
> pageant that a "whole nother" generation of young women are
> watching the pageant.  What is this "whole nother"?

a recutting (or metanalysis) of "another", as "a" + "nother" instead
of "an" + "other".  in fact, a textbook example of a recutting that
hasn't become fully standard (unlike "apron" and "napkin").

it's been around for some time.  OED Online (Dec. 2003 revision) has
an entry for this "nother" (the second entry for "nother" as pronoun/
adjective).  the entry even specifically mentions "a whole nother".

arnold