# the spelling of "whine"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spelling-of-whine/324478>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 2, 2005, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spelling-of-whine/324478 "2005-10-02T19:59:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spelling-of-whine/324478/21 "2005-10-03T18:43:29Z")

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> [@SparrowHawk](#):
>
> In the interest of collecting dueling anecdotes, I repeat: American parents with deep American roots; my ancestors hailed over from sundry UK locations (England, Scotland, Wales) beginning in the mid-17th century. It might be an isolated regional holdover;

You must be that isolated regional holdover. 😉  
I also have American parents, deep Mid-West American roots, was raised in the Mid-Atlantic and have ancestors with the same UK locations as yours, and I never heard whinge till I found this message board. I’ve still never heard it actually pronounced outloud.

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**Author:** ![SparrowHawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac8455/32.png) [@SparrowHawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SparrowHawk)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spelling-of-whine/324478/22 "2005-10-03T20:02:06Z")

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> [@BiblioCat](#):
>
> You must be that isolated regional holdover. 😉

My alternate theory is that we were just a really annoying collection of kids, which necessitated frequent employment of the word, and you and others were exemplary angels, so you never heard it. I note that I associate the word with children and it has a connotation of childish behavior. I’m not sure if I feel the same about “whine,” in spite of the higher pitch it has in my mind. “Whinge” is somewhere between a whine and a grouse, which is slightly above a grumble.

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**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2005, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spelling-of-whine/324478/23 "2005-10-03T20:54:58Z")

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> [@SparrowHawk](#):
>
> … and you and others were exemplary angels, so you never heard it.

😃 My mother would beg to differ. I always heard, “I can’t understand you when you whine.”  
One day I heard it pop out of my own mouth, said to my then 2-year-old cranky daughter. I knew I was a grown-up at that point. :eek:

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**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\
**Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spelling-of-whine/324478/24 "2005-10-04T10:22:45Z")

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> [@Mathochist](#):
>
> Do you mean pronouncing (“wuh-hinge”) or aspirating the ‘w’?

Aspirating.

Whinge is to “Winge” as What is to Watt. But, interestingly, Where’s equivalent is Wear, not Were.

Whine and Whinge are not the same things. Whining is high pitched and elongated. Whinging is more like grumbling.

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**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\
**Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spelling-of-whine/324478/25 "2005-10-04T10:38:43Z")

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> [@Fridgemagnet](#):
>
> A bit like the difference between a boat and a ship, I suppose. A boat is smaller than a ship, but the exact demarcation point between the two is never defined.

“A ship is a thing that on water floats;  
The large ones are vessels, the small ones are boats.  
Which ones are vessels and which ones are boats?  
–Pardon me while I look at my notes.”

By another system of taxonomy, a ship has three or more masts, all square-rigged.

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**Author:** ![Ponster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponster/32/17081_2.png) [@Ponster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponster)\
**Post date:** [October 4, 2005, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-spelling-of-whine/324478/26 "2005-10-04T13:47:18Z")

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“Stop your whinging” was a popular reply from my grandmother (irish) when a child was complaining about not getting their way or something they wanted.

I hear it on a weekly basis when in Ireland.

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