Newsgroups: sci.lang
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From: stevemac@bud.indirect.com (Pascal MacProgrammer)
Subject: "a whole nother"
Message-ID: <D5D16K.I3K@indirect.com>
Sender: usenet@indirect.com (Internet Direct Admin)
Organization: Department of Redundancy Department
Date: Mon, 13 Mar 1995 03:47:08 GMT
X-Disclaimer: I have nothing to disclaim, deny, or disavow.
Lines: 27

Not so very long ago, azog@gti.gti.net said...
>
>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

  This is an attempt to insert the adverb "whole" (meaning "completely")
between the apparent article "an" and the adjective "other", and not
liking the sound of "an whole other", so they split the word one letter 
earlier.
  If I were to try to create this, I'd divide "another" into <indef.art> 
and "other", insert "whole", and note that the proper indefinite article 
in that instance is "a".  So I'd say...

  There is a whole other pie in the oven.
  We're in a whole other country.

-- 
                              ==----=                    Steve MacGregor
                             ([.] [.])                     Phoenix, AZ
--------------------------oOOo--(_)--oOOo----------------------------------
        Help stamp out, eliminate, and abolish redundancy!
