a whole nother

[David Sutcliffe]

Re:
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


Michael, I'm not sure if I understand.  Are you saying that instances like:

  A'm right ---> Is a'm right?
 or
A'm goin,  A'm sure is goin.

-can't happen, because they do, of course, in AAVE.

Also in AAVE / southern you get:

 I'd ruther -->  I druther  ---> If I had my druthers.

Against that background, "a whole nother" seems par for the course.

David

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