|
|
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 133
member
|
OP
member
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 133 |
The other day I told my bunch that I would pass this to you for enlightenment or whatever.
Someone mentioned a pretty busy day, but 'not overwhelming.'
Then, again, they said, it wasn't 'underwhelming':)
They were just whelmed.
Was this ever a commonly used word? Where did it come from, or where did it go?
I know we could look in a dictionary, but this is more fun.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
originally, to be whelmed was itself to be pretty overwhelmed. but there's always someone that has to get hyperbolic about these things. <g>
whelm and overwhelm are both quite old (1300 and 1400 respectively); underwhelm was coined ca. 1956.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624 |
1956 ... obviously took them a long time to get over being whelmed, didn't it?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Maybe they were quasi-whelmed.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
If underwhelmed meant what it should mean it would be just as bad as overwhelmed. It would mean having your base washed out from beneath you leaving you nothing to stand on.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
Then there's always Matt wHelmed, said of a villain who is undone by a 60s secret agent. Note: this is not the secrfet agent played by Dean Martin, these are novels by a guy named Donald Hamilton, beginning with Death of a Citizen IIRC.
TEd
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773 |
Just as "underwhelmed" has been derived from "overwhelmed," "whelmed" in the new sense of "no special effect; eliciting a feeling of indifference" has entered the vocabulary recently (in the last 20 years, in my experience) as a backformation of sorts from "overwhelmed." My American Heritage Dictionary doesn't yet include the new meaning of "whelmed" in its definitions, but I'd bet that'll change soon enough.
Aside: while typing this, I managed to write "volcabulary" ... which I now take the opportunity to define as "terms related to the field of volcanology."
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
> volcabulary
or using explosive words...
formerly known as etaoin...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Jomama, it's nice to see you again. [HUG]
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
The volcabulary are the people with guns and badges who keep hikers and curiosity seekers out of the area around Mount Saint Helens when she is threatening to erupt .. like now.
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,809
Members9,187
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
875
guests, and
1
robot. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
