> Ultimately, the English interrogative pronouns (those beginning with wh in addition to the word how), derive from the Proto-Indo-European root kʷo- or kʷi, the former of which was reflected in Proto-Germanic as χʷa- or khʷa-,[citation needed] due to Grimm's law.
These underwent further sound changes and spelling changes, notably wh-cluster reductions, resulting in the initial sound being either /w/ (in most dialects) or /h/ (how, who) and the initial spelling being either wh or h (how). This was the result of two sound changes – /hw/ > /h/ before /uː/ (how, who) and /hw/ > /w/ otherwise …
These underwent further sound changes and spelling changes, notably wh-cluster reductions, resulting in the initial sound being either /w/ (in most dialects) or /h/ (how, who) and the initial spelling being either wh or h (how). This was the result of two sound changes – /hw/ > /h/ before /uː/ (how, who) and /hw/ > /w/ otherwise …
The thing you need to remember about the word wherever is that it used to be two words, and began life that way. For quite a while it was written that way, too, but then it started getting hyphenated. When finally the hyphen itself was lost, it made no sense to write with two e’s the sound of ju...
Today I saw a sign on the train that said
Bag down for a better ride.
There was an accompanying picture of someone carrying a large bag on his back, possibly causing inconvenience to others.
Initially, I thought it meant put less things in your bag, with bag used as a verb in the sign. Lat...
Comedians seem to use phrases that employ this type of sentence structure - is there a name for it?
Examples of Groucho Marx's one liners seem to fit this pattern — and if memory serves, Emo Philips.
One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas, how he got in my pajamas, I don't know.
...
