well, as is our wont, we seem to be late to the party:
[f. under-1 10a, after overwhelm v.]
trans. To leave unimpressed, to arouse little or no interest in. Chiefly as under"whelmed pa. pple. and ppl. a., and under"whelming ppl. a.
1956 T. K. Quinn Giant Corporations viii. 61 He wrote+commending the action of one of the giant corporations for a+price reduction at a time when prices were rising. I was underwhelmed, and investigated. 1968 Punch 17 July 81/2, I agree that the wretched parents are not to be penalised till 1969 and I'm sure they are under-whelmed with gratitude. 1970 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 3 July 47/1 Victoria Fair got off to a quite underwhelming start+with a concert in the University of Victoria gym. 1972 Times Lit. Suppl. 29 Dec. 1569/4 Both the prose and the play are underwhelming. 1978 Ottawa Citizen 2 Mar. 3/3 The Sparks Street post office ran out of applications+but a survey of other post offices+showed the public was generally underwhelmed. 1984 Observer 15 Jan. 9/3 He was+fluent in speech and crashingly dull. If there was an opportunity to be underwhelming, he unfailingly seized it.
[from the Usual Gang of Madmen at the OED]
