‘Nother one

From Gina Shatney:

I nominate the verbal phrase, “a whole nother,” as in “That’s a whole nother ball game.” Its stupidity is clear the second you try to write it down. What the heck is a “nother”?

3 thoughts on “‘Nother one

  1. Your question, “what the heck is a ‘nother,'” contains the word “heck”. Presuming, as a Texan, born and bred, that the phonetics would look similar to, “watt tha heck isa nuther,” then in my opinion you have answered your own question. Should you be from the north and really in question then let’s view a few other phrases that could apply here:

    “Sensuous” as in, “sensuous up, grab me another beer.”

    “Widjahdidjah” as in, “you didn’t bring your truck widjahdidjah?”

    “Mayonnaise” as in, “Mayonnaise a lot of people in here.”

    These are a few of my personal favorites, but there are many more out there. Keep in mind that we do say things like “fixin'” and “goin.'” “Yessum” is also a permanent selection as well, seeing as most of us are polite, courteous people. Some of us say “mornin,'” and others, clad in maroon, say “howdy!” There are so many words that come to mind that aren’t really words at all. It causes me to think that perhaps your question may be a bit misdirected. Rather than ask about the word, ask about the sounds. What is being said sounds correct when said aloud. It is only when one attemps to put these words down on paper that a bit of a problem arises. Of course, if the writer were the “problem solving” sort, they would realize that the sentence would be correct if it was written, “That’s a whole other ballgame.” (ballgame being one word)

  2. Four years later, people are still taking things to a “whole nother level.” And I still hate it!