Friday, January 20, 2006

Whine!

Why is the present participle of "Whine" "Whinging"? As in, "I am Whining and whining right now because I am so incredibly tired." Is Whinge a British thing?

Why is the present participle of "To Crochet" "Crocheting"? Because I always read that as "crotch-etting," and I'm sure that's not right.

Why can't I pronounce the word "Nowhere" on the page? Because I often read it as, "Now Here."

Why am I writing this when I need to go back to bed?

Night before last, I woke up at 1:30 am and stayed up all morning before falling back asleep for an hour before the kids had to go to school. In the morning I had a meeting with an insurance salesman (!) and had to deliver some birthday invitations, so I only had time to take a one-hour nap after lunch. After picking up the kids, we had to finish my son's family tree project (due today). Then I bundled my children off to three separate friends' homes so that I could attend a Board Meeting. The meeting went from 6 pm until 11:15 pm.

Did you happen to notice in that list that I forgot to make or eat dinner? Because I only realized this at about 9 pm--duh.

And now, this morning, I discover that when I miss two consecutive nights' worth of sleep, my head hurts and I whine.

4 comments:

Megan Frampton said...

You know, it only takes ME a late night, a grumpy six year-old and an extra pound for me to whine my head off. And want to take a nap (which, I will mention, I just did). If I had done what you did, I would be a beast.

Anonymous said...

Well, I'm British and I whinge, but went to school at a period when the educational theory was that children didn't need to be taught grammar, they'd just pick it up naturally; so you lost me at 'present participle'. If I was pushed, I'd say that dogs whine but children whinge - you have to talk to whinge.

Crocheting is a word I hadn't ever considered before.

[Participle: A non-finite part of a verb used with an auxiliary verb in expressing tense and voice ... now my head hurts too. It was a terrible educational theory.]

Hope you've achieved some sleep, some food, and a glass of something soothing...

Douglas Hoffman said...

I recall finding "whinging" on a website that listed Australian slang terms. Perhaps that's where it comes from; God only knows how the Aussies pronounce "whinging". I refuse to use that spelling. "Whining" is standard, damn it, and if folks don't like it, tough nuggies!

Did you like my whining?

As a kid, I always thought "awry" was pronounced AWry. I'd read the word and never heard anyone say it in speech. I think I was in 11th or 12th grade before I finally figured it out.

CindyS said...

I'd like to throw a holla at Marianne because she is a fellow peep. 'kay enough of my street talk.

You all lost me at Whinging. I have no clue and would say it was spelled wroung. Course, dawg is probably now in the dictionary.

Embarassing stuff.

I used to pronounce specific - pacific and had no clue until I made all my friends laugh themselves into comas. Now I know.

Chic - I have pronounced this chick in my head for years and only discovered recently that this is how you spell sheek. Yep, I'm a goober.

As for sleep, never, ever, ever, did you get that!? ever *NOT* get enough sleep. I would tear down buildings and have been known to growl at people if I don't get enough sleep.

Ah, crying and feeling sorry for myself come in right after. I have a feeling this will be a bad day.

We're going to see a house a 11am (after me being up all night) and then we have to go to a surprise party where I have to be there at 5pm. I'm euchered.

Be prepared for a weepy, sappy blog. Actually, just avoid my blog ;)

CindyS