Talk:a whole nother

Although John Mcwhorter, Word On The Street: Debunking The Myth Of A Pure Standard English (2009, ISBN 0786731478) calls it "impossible", I have occasionally seen a whle another in the wild. Probably not common enough to add, though. - -sche (discuss) 19:26, 22 March 2019 (UTC)


 * I don't know if I've seen it, but it's the same as the also nonstandard, but common US "a half an hour", so I agree that it can hardly be impossible. 90.186.170.69 12:29, 4 October 2023 (UTC)

Metanalysis of "an other", 1955–60
The metanalysis of an other is also a possible origin --Backinstadiums (talk) 10:55, 23 October 2020 (UTC)

I also frequently use and hear, "a single nother" 76.112.236.174 07:10, 16 July 2021 (UTC)

a whole other
The informal use of a whole other + noun, ‘an entirely different, separate or additional…’ seems to have begun life in AmE: He had a family, a whole other life, in Florida—J. Silber, 1991 --Backinstadiums (talk) 09:08, 12 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Exactly. This is much more common than "a whole nother". The latter isn't rare, but the normal form is predominant. We should have "a whole other" as the lemma and "a whole nother" as an alternative form. 90.186.170.69 12:25, 4 October 2023 (UTC)