"define: whinge" from google returns 0 items. Besides' date=' I didn't say there wasn't a g in whinge, I said there wasn't a g in whine. Jeez.[/quote']
Two threads I've posted in and you've said this - you've been wrong both times. I wasn't trying to say 'whine' when I put a 'g' in the word. I am in fact using the word 'whinge. ' ;-)
L-A
requesting..
I wasn't wrong. I said "whine" doesn't have a g in it. It doesn't.
I didn't say nothing about "whinge".
He was obviously just making a completely out of context statement.
In any case, "whinge" is basically the same word as our good old-fashioned "whine," meaning "to complain peevishly." Both whinge" and "whine" are ultimately from the Germanic "hwinan," meaning "to whine." The "ge" ending of "whinge" is evidence of its origin as the Scots and Northern English form of "whine," much as "clenge" and "ringe" were at one time the Northern forms of "cleanse" and "rinse."
"Whinge" (which rhymes with "hinge") has always been common in the U.K. and Australia, but it seems to have hired itself a North American press agent recently. It's showing up more and more in U.S. media, and I've received a number of questions about "whinge" in just the last month. Cynic that I am, I suspect that the increased visibility of "whinge" may be due to the inveterate Anglophilia of certain upper strata of U.S. society. It is, for instance, now routine to hear well-off young people in New York City pretentiously refer to their "flat," meaning their apartment. Personally, I find that sort of play-acting vaguely pathetic, but your mileage may vary.
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