whuggle

[Jonathan Lighter]

How the H-word do you pronounce "pwned"?

JL

On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 10:09 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: whuggle
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On May 15, 2012, at 9:11 AM, Amy West wrote:
>
> > On 5/15/12 12:00 AM, Automatic digest processor wrote:
> >> If this family =
> >> of items has really been around since the 1990s, as it appears, it =
> >> should be probably be recorded somewhere.  (Was there a relevant ATNW
> in =
> >> which these terms were recorded?)  Or does it only belong in a virtual =
> >> lexicon, rather than an actual one?
> > I think I see what you mean: a quickie Google search turns up a bunch of
> > glosses of it like but no primary instances of its use, except in the
> > last item here.
> >
> > http://llt.msu.edu/vol8num3/lam/default.html
> > http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/whuggle
> > http://www.ghostweather.com/papers/GenderMOO.htm
> >
> > Here's the thing: it's used in the chat box so it's pretty ephemeral.
> > We're not going to see it uses it in, oh, a game review or a fan story
> > or a discussion on a blog or a board.
> >
> > Here's one:
> >
> http://www.madman.com.au/madboards/viewtopic.php?p=307332&sid=a2653a8872ab0820c1f17011af0f0eb8
> >
> > 8 instances of whuggle there.
> >
> > I think I'll ask my teen (hey, Neal, how about you ask yours as well) if
> > he hears his peers using this term in spoken conversation. I know that
> > they've moved things like "pwned" into their active spoken vocab. They
> > may not have done the same with "whuggle" if it doesn't fill a need.
> > (What need "pwned" fills for them other than bugging me, I'm not quite
> > sure: an ironic, slightly mocking assertion of superiority?)
> >
> > (Because I'm a day late and a dollar short due to reading on the digest,
> > I apologize if I have repeated what others have already said. And I also
> > apologize if I have stated the obvious or the already known.)
> >
> > ---Amy West
>
>
> Nope, no one's said a word, so I appreciate the feedback.  I'd give you a
> *whuggle* but I'm still not sure about the (n)etiquette involved.
>
> LH
>
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