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From: joanne@ims.com (Joanne Wakeland)
Subject: Re: "a whole nother"
Message-ID: <1995Mar20.205639.7630@ims.com>
Sender: usenet@ims.com (USENET News Poster)
Organization: Integrated Measurement Systems, Inc.
References:  <azog.29.00097759@gti.gti.net>
Distribution: usa
Date: Mon, 20 Mar 1995 20:56:39 GMT
Lines: 24

It seems to me that the odd structure comes from the fact that 'other'
does not modify 'county' in your example.  It modifies 'other' and 
means 'a wholly other' county.


In article <azog.29.00097759@gti.gti.net>, azog@gti.gti.net writes:
|> 
|> I've heard many people use the phrase in question, and I've probably used it
|> countless times myself, but I've become curious about this.
|> 
|> First, I don't even know if this is just a local (east coast USA) thing or
|> not. Some sentences I've heard are:
|> 
|> There is a whole nother pie (in the oven)
|> We are in a whole nother county
|> 
|> And so on. I am wondering how and why this would come about. It
|> doesn't seem to be just dropping the first syllable of the word
|> 'another' as 'a whole another' doesn't make sense. It's a mutation
|> or mutilation of 'another whole' or 'a whole other', altho the
|> second doesn't sound right to me.
|> 
|> Is there something 'clumsey' about 'another whole' as in
|> 'We are in another whole county'? 
