# It's "never mind", not "nevermind" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 3, 2008, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-never-mind-not-nevermind/455249 "2008-07-03T23:45:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-never-mind-not-nevermind/455249/21 "2008-07-04T04:18:16Z")
I have only one word to say about this, which is my only stock and store: Nevermore. ---
**Author:** ![LilShieste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@LilShieste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilShieste)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-never-mind-not-nevermind/455249/22 "2008-07-04T04:37:40Z")
[QUOTE=bufftabby] Also: _ummagumma_ was a slang word for intercourse. [/QUOTE] Whoops - I didn’t mean to come across as some kind of sex-maniac in my earlier post. :o ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-never-mind-not-nevermind/455249/23 "2008-07-04T04:47:05Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] If, however, you’re channeling Emily Litella, it is indeed spelled that way to convey that it’s basically one word, no pause, no breath. [/QUOTE] I disagree. Properly spoken, there is an unvoiced, but prominent and filled with exasperation, stop between the two words. Perhaps you do not have teens. However, **Thudlow** provided a different use in which the compound is a correct representation of what is spoken, but its meaning is also different. And is _usually_ less snarky. Imagine that: A Southernism, especially one I use, that is LESS snarky than its Northern equivalent. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-never-mind-not-nevermind/455249/24 "2008-07-04T04:56:48Z")
Well, he’s not speaking about teens, he’s speaking about Emily Litella. That having been said, speech does not generally contain significant stops between separate words; at least, not in such a distinctive manner as would usefully aid word boundary-demarcation. There’s no particular reason to expect orthographic spacing to track pronunciation in this way. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-never-mind-not-nevermind/455249/25 "2008-07-04T05:12:51Z")
I would and do, though I often add superfluous punctuation to “clarify” it. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-never-mind-not-nevermind/455249/26 "2008-07-04T05:17:11Z")
Would and do what? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-never-mind-not-nevermind/455249/27 "2008-07-04T06:10:01Z")
[QUOTE=Indistinguishable] Would and do what? [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Indistinguishable] There’s no particular reason to expect orthographic spacing to track pronunciation in this way. [/QUOTE] Some people try to separate written English from spoken English. Inspired by the Victorians, whose writings trained me, and who wrote so they could be read aloud, I recognize the difference between the quarter stop, the comma (“quarter” here in the musical sense, in which a comma equates to a quarter rest); the half stop, or semicolon; the long-forgotten third stop, or colon (it wasn’t always used just to denote a list); and the full stop, or period. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-never-mind-not-nevermind/455249/28 "2008-07-04T06:12:38Z")
Well, alright, but do you expect, say, “all right” vs. “alright” to be indicative of a pronunciation difference? Is your screenname (or screen name) pronounced differently from “drop zone”? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-never-mind-not-nevermind/455249/29 "2008-07-04T06:15:24Z")
I request that those people, for whom the authors of their first reading materials died before 1918, forgive me. Blame my mother, who showered me with the same books her young mother read in the 1880s. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-never-mind-not-nevermind/455249/30 "2008-07-04T06:17:55Z")
[QUOTE=Indistinguishable] Well, alright, but do you expect, say, “all right” vs. “alright” to be indicative of a pronunciation difference? Is your screenname (or screen name) pronounced differently from “drop zone”? [/QUOTE] Those compounds entered the mainstream in the 30s and 40s. I may be old and obsolete, but I still spell it “okay,” not “okeh.” ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-never-mind-not-nevermind/455249/31 "2008-07-04T06:19:41Z")
I think we may be speaking past each other a little. I’m not sure how your last post answers my question, but then, I’m no longer really sure that my question is relevant either. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-never-mind-not-nevermind/455249/32 "2008-07-04T06:58:55Z")
[QUOTE=Indistinguishable] I think we may be speaking past each other a little. I’m not sure how your last post answers my question, but then, I’m no longer really sure that my question is relevant either. [/QUOTE] Let’s leave it at how your user name says one thing about these words but I disagree. 😉 It’s a matter of how and when compounds are, er, compounded. “Alright,” as a single construction, was compounded long ago but “all right,” today, means something quite different. Same with “never mind,” which does not have to be spoken by a teen to convey the requisite level of snark, and “nevermind,” which, used correctly, is a slight and archaic dismissal of whatever the spoken-to said. Snarky both, but we are talking about degree here, and it can change everything. ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-never-mind-not-nevermind/455249/33 "2008-07-04T07:20:04Z")
[QUOTE=freekalette] I use that word alot, and nothing you can say will stop me. [/QUOTE] “Alot” has always bothered the crap out of me. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-never-mind-not-nevermind/455249/34 "2008-07-04T07:48:01Z")
I’d like to point out to everyone living in Thailand, Thais and others alike: Sometimes it’s “every day,” and sometimes it’s “everyday,” but IT’S NOT FRIGGIN’ “EVERYDAY” ALL THE FIGGIN’ TIME. As in the large signs proclaiming: “We’re open everyday.” And many more. Phew! Thanks. Got that off my chest. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-never-mind-not-nevermind/455249/35 "2008-07-04T08:59:55Z")
Obscure? From the Oxford English Dictionary. > [@](#): > > **nevermind** , n > > _U.S. regional._ > > 1. A matter of interest or relevance; one’s business or concern. Chiefly in negative contexts, as to make no nevermind: to make no difference, to be of no significance. > > 2. to pay no nevermind: to pay no attention, to be indifferent (to something). ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_fight_the_hypothetical)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-never-mind-not-nevermind/455249/36 "2008-07-04T11:07:49Z")
I’m glad we got that cleared up. Thank you. Thankyouverymuch. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-never-mind-not-nevermind/455249/37 "2008-07-04T11:36:42Z")
Ooh, a prescriptivist/descriptivist debate - really glad this has come up, no one round here ever seems interested in discussing the subject :rolleyes:. [QUOTE=GorillaMan] I’m always telling kids to refer to me by an anglo-saxon word which compounds ‘south’ and ‘settlement’. Should I stop? [/QUOTE] I’m not getting this, can you elaborate? ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-never-mind-not-nevermind/455249/38 "2008-07-04T13:00:53Z")
Fuck wicket. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-never-mind-not-nevermind/455249/39 "2008-07-04T15:59:41Z")
[QUOTE=aldiboronti] Obscure? From the Oxford English Dictionary. [/QUOTE] Which calls it “regional.” Outside of that region, obscure isn’t out of the question. . ---
**Author:** ![freekalette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/50afbb/32.png) [@freekalette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freekalette)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-never-mind-not-nevermind/455249/40 "2008-07-04T18:57:58Z")
[QUOTE=BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed] “Alot” has always bothered the crap out of me. [/QUOTE] Me too, but I couldn’t resist it after that OP! 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-never-mind-not-nevermind/455249.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-never-mind-not-nevermind/455249.md?page=3)