a whole nother

It's almost as if the planets aligned, the gods smiled, and the seas parted. Last night, at Thorubos of all places - a time when I'm surrounded with people who think like me and love whole nother almost as much as I do - Nathan dropped it. We were nearing the very end of discussing Ann Lamott's new book, and I was busy perusing _Real Sex_ (is anyone else having problems underlining and linking in blogspot today?) so I didn't catch the entirety of his comment, but I did catch, "...and that's a whole nother dicussion," referring to something about memoirs and truth. What makes this instance particularly beautiful is that (1) it was said by an English major, (2) it was said among those who know more about my fascination with whole nother than anyone else, (3) it was said by my roommate. Triparteid awesomeness.

Today I'm back and forth between the leadership retreat and the library. I probably won't hear "a whole nother" in the library, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone drops it at the retreat. Time will tell.

My paper is now up. I couldn't find the original file, so I posted a rough draft. There are a few grammar and spelling errors and some minor flaws in the argument, but overall I think it's pretty good.

Enjoy.

The purpose of this blog is to offer documentation and commentary on the phrase "a whole nother," which was the subject of a paper I wrote last fall for a linguistics class with James VandenBosch. I highly recommend taking this class, and I'll post the paper on this site in the next few days for your enjoyment.

Today, I have two "a whole nother" stories to share.

First, this past Tuesday, I gathered with the WAs of this fading era and also with the WAs-to-be. Near the end of our "meeting" we gathered in the chapel undercroft (which, by the way, is a sweet way of saying "basement") in a circle for old WAs to bequeath advice upon new WAs. Martinus, somwhere in his advice, dropped the phrase "a whole nother." It was at the end of his last sentence and he was trailing off, so I didn't quite catch the context, but he did say it.

Second, today in class, John Witvliet (who regularly says "a whole nother") was reading from a book by Joeseph Ratzinger - now Pope Benedict XVI. It was a book about the newly elected pope's views on worship and liturgy, and they sounded surprisingly Protestant, given many of the conservative stances of the pope, especially concerning Vatcian II, which we all know as a crucial turning point in the history of Protestant and Roman Catholic worship practices. Apparently Ratzinger has another book on worship that is slightly more edgy, and to get at the polarities in edginess, Witvliet dropped "a whole nother" to describe said book. It was glorious.

Predictions for tomorrow: two.