Join the masses who listen to A Way With Words, the call-in radio show and podcast about words and language.
Catchword for “whimperative”
Catchword: whimperative
Filed Under:
Part of Speech: n.
The part of speech reflects that used in the full entry, and not necessarily the part of speech as it is used in the quotation below.
Quotation: The clearest example is ordinary politeness. When you are at a dinner party and want the salt, you don’t blurt out, “Gimme the salt.” Rather, you use what linguists call a whimperative, as in “Do you think you could pass the salt?” or “If you could pass the salt, that would be awesome.”
Article or Document Title:
“Words Don’t Mean What They Mean” (URL)
Author:
Steven Pinker
Article, Document, Publication, Web Site:
Time
Date of Publication:
Sept. 6, 2007
This cite belongs to a full entry for whimperative.
Posted 7 Sep 07 | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Leave a comment, which must be approved by the moderator before it will appear. Courtesy matters!

Keep in mind that we're interested in terms that are not well-covered in mainstream dictionaries, or not covered at all. A mass of unexamined Google hits counts for nothing, but an early use of the term you've found in a book or periodical is very useful. A term does not have to be new to be recorded here, it merely needs to be worthy of more attention.
Name (mandatory):

Email (mandatory):

Location (optional):

Your Web Site (optional):

Remember my personal information

Notify me, by email, of follow-up comments.

Recent Catchwords
vent figure n. (9/8)
drowning machine n. (9/8)
fertigation n. (9/4)
lobbocracy n. (9/4)
quiet title n. (9/3)
plankowner n. (9/2)
zapper n. (9/2)
twiller n. (8/31)
beach nourishment n. (8/31)
Mottness n. (8/31)
hubba n. (8/31)
hole doping n. (8/29)
foot drop n. (8/29)
springboard injunction n. (8/28)
turabosis n. (8/28)
Truman Show delusion n. (8/28)
relokill n. (8/27)
toothpick rule n. (8/27)
age-doping n. (8/27)
narcisurfing n. (8/27)
 More catchwords...
Lexicographer's Rules
Wilf? Yuffer? Get real! (8/27)
Lexicographer Laurence Urdang Dies at 81 (8/26)
A thesaurus can be harmful (8/6)
Can bad language punditry be stopped? Can false attributions for classic quotes be fixed? (7/27)
There’s one in every country (7/23)
Scottish Language Dictionaries fundraiser (7/12)
SouthWest Writers (7/10)
Disfluencies: What do they mean by “I mean”? (7/9)
A hearty endorsement of shout quotes: scare quotes used for emphasis (5/14)
How to buy a dictionary (4/29)
 More blog entries...
Find A Word  »
 A   B   C   D   E 
 F   G   H   I   J 
 K   L   M   N   O 
 P   Q   R   S   T 
 U   V   W   X   Y 
 Z   0-9 
Search
Search Site

Google Site Search
Recent searches: like… helicopter… GEEZ… nappy… pipeline…
New Comments
mike lucas commented on lobbocracy (9/8)
Beth Bell Presswood commented on sonker (9/7)
kiko commented on rent seeker (9/7)
stacie commented on featherwood (9/7)
purple boy commented on fobbit (9/6)
ANN commented on featherwood (9/5)
John commented on peanut buttering (9/3)
speedwell commented on mugu (9/3)
adaku opara commented on Truman Show delusion (9/3)
Andrew commented on robotripping (8/29)
Russell commented on fourth point of contact (8/28)
ill-uSHEN commented on backpacker (8/28)
Kenny S commented on anchor baby (8/28)
Kortney commented on defac (8/26)
Melanie Parrish commented on Mortarville (8/26)
Subscribe to the RSS feed. • Subscribe to the mailing list. • Browse the archive. • Add to Technorati Favorites. • © 1999-2008 by Grant Barrett, Double-Tongued Dictionary, New York City.