Date: Sat, 26 Oct 1996 09:41:05 -0500

From: "Thomas J. Creswell" creswell[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CROWN.NET

Subject: A whole nother _nother_



-- [ From: Thomas J. Creswell * EMC.Ver #2.5.02 ] --





I realize the _nother_ thread has now gone to Archive, but I ran across the

following the other day and thought it might be of interest. Notice

especially the "scare" quotes:



Satellite DNA is, as they say, a "whole 'nother" story waiting to be told.



Stephen Jay Gould. "What Happens in Bodies" in _Hen's Teeth and Horse's

Tails_, Norton, NY, p. 168.



OED1 has _nother_ as both adj. and pron., with earliest cite in the 9th

century, W3 also has both adj and pron uses; etymology: misdivision from

_an other_ or _none other_.



In modern use, according to NSOED, the expression "a whole nother" is of

20th century US origin.



Tom Creswell