a whole "nuther"?

[Laurence Horn]

At 5:40 AM -0700 6/10/05, James Smith wrote:
>another whole=> a 'nother whole => a whole 'nother

I don't see it that way.  I'm not convinced "a 'nother whole (thing)"
was really a factor in the reanalysis.  Evidence for this comes from
the fact that "whole" in "a whole nother thing" is essentially an
adverb modifying "nother", not an adjective modifying "thing".
Google counts show the following:

"a whole nother/nuther thing"   4082
"another whole thing"                 372

"a whole nother/nuther idea"       181
"another whole idea"                     17

Rather, given the starting point of "another thing" (3.2 million
hits), the reanalysis yields "a + nother", where "nother" is treated
(either naively or disingenuously) as though it were an adjective
comparable to "different".   Now analogously to the quite common "a
whole different thing" (16,100 hits), "a whole different idea", etc.,
substitution of equivalents yields "a whole nother thing".  The "a
'nother whole" stage need not be invoked to motivate this.

Larry

>
>--- Janis Vizier Nihart <tarheel at MOBILETEL.COM> 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"?
>>
>
>
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