a whole nother

[John M. Spartz]

Although it seems obvious that 'another' -> 'a' 'nother' -> "a whole nother,"
there seems to be the possibility that people do use it as an infix
(mistakenly?) in the same way that they do others (i.e. im-f'in-possible NP,
much like a-f'in-nother NP)?  My students have grumbled about having
a-f'in-nother reading assignment, etc. when they thought I wasn't listening...


In Paul Brian's "Common Errors in English Usage," Brian asserts that "It is one
thing to use the expression “a whole ’nother” as a consciously slangy phrase
suggesting rustic charm and a completely different matter to use it mistakenly.
The A at the beginning of the phrase is the common article “a” but is here
treated as if it were simultaneously the first letter of “another,” interrupted
by “whole.”

Of course, I could simply be arguing to support my original analysis...

Best,
John

__________________________________________
John M. Spartz
jspartz at purdue.edu
English Linguistics
Purdue University


Quoting Michael Adams <madams1448 at AOL.COM>:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Michael Adams <madams1448 at AOL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: a whole nother
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> And here's a whole nother reason it can't (read "shouldn't") be infixing in
> English: it would be the only case I can think of in which a proposed
> infixing would end up generating an interposing -- another infixed as a whole
> nother ends up becoming a phrase, "a whole nother," in which whole is
> interposed. I would never say that it couldn't happen (always unwise to say),
> but given our current expectations it shouldn't happen -- should it? Can
> anyone think of another example?
>
> ~ Michael
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