'what everything' hypercorrection

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Aug 1, 2006, at 11:02 AM, Damien Hall wrote:

> Speaking to a nurse who took my medical details this morning, I was
> struck by
> something that she said once she had heard I was British (it
> doesn't take long)
> and was telling me how she felt about Princess Diana:
>
> 'I really admired her, for what everything she went through.'
>
> I took it to be a hypercorrection for *what all* = 'all that',
> 'everything
> that', though in this case it's obviously difficult to rule out a
> false start
> as well: 'for what ... [implied: for] everything she went through'.
>
> I had never heard 'what everything' for 'what all' before.  Have
> other people?

i don't recall having heard it, but here are three more examples,
from the first hundred google webhits on "what everything":

----

Join us for this Webinar and learn what everything HelpDesk™ did for
Dan, from creating ... Register below and see what everything
HelpDesk can do for you! ...
www.novell.com/coolsolutions/webinars.html

so um what cards what gear what everything do i need to run sa for
pc ...
www.gtaforums.com/index.php?showtopic=249110

What you're about to read is what everything I did to prepare for the
April 7th SNBF bodybuilding and fitness competition. I decided to try
something new ...
www.bodybuilding.com/fun/phano33.htm

----

i'm not sure if these should be called hypercorrections, though i'd
guess that they arose from extending "what all" into new territory.
it's possible that the first users of "what everything" -- who are
not necessarily the people quoted above -- felt that "what all" was a
bit too colloquial (related uses of "what all"* are labeled as
colloquial by the OED, but this particular use is not in the OED so
far as i can see) and improved the tone some by using "everything"
instead of "all".  that would be somethin akin to hypercorrection.

*and what all, and I don't know what all [without a following
complement]

arnold (zwicky at csli.stanford.edu)

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