Hi, NE - please treat my little joke in the spirit intended, as welcoming you to the nuthouse like one of the family!
I am not so sure this is uniquely USnism. In contrast to Rhuby, as a Brit I am very comfortable with this as a distinctive way of saying "expectations disappointed" or something similar. When you look at the etymolgy of whelm it seems a reasonable new backformation of a word with fine (Old) English pedigree:
whelm (hwĕlm, wĕlm)
tr.v., whelmed, whelm·ing, whelms.
To cover with water; submerge.
To overwhelm.
[Middle English whelmen, to overturn, probably alteration (influenced by helmen, to cover) of whelven, from Old English -hwelfan (as in âhwelfan, to cover over).]
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
