I am willing to accept that. As I stated, I don't know. I have seen the "whip cracker" idea on the internet, so it is not unknown, but that doesn't make it correct. It is also possible that a term can arise from more than one source, or develop into usage in more than one place or time, which would preclude a definite, single-sourced etymology. I'm not saying that is the case here, but I think there's at least the possibility it could be.

Controversial postulation follows: Shouldn't descriptivism apply to etymologies as well as the words themselves? Then you must accept "folk etymology" as "real", because users of it have already done so. :0)

Last edited by twosleepy; 09/05/2008 2:56 PM. Reason: make clearer to readers