a whole "nuther"?

[Alice Faber]

Arnold M. Zwicky wrote:
> 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".

I remember discussing this reanalysis in syntax classes in grad school,
in the mid 70s. I doubt it was new at that time, but that's as far back
as I personally can place it.

--
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Alice Faber                                    faber at haskins.yale.edu
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