The Curious Case of Whet

The Curious Case of Whet The Curious Case of â€Å"Whet† The Curious Case of â€Å"Whet† By Maeve Maddox Here’s a question from Caro that cites a usage for whet that I’ve never heard: I have recently seen several people using the word â€Å"whet† in place of the word â€Å"wet†.   (In one case, I asked a friend if shed meant to say â€Å"wet† but she said it can also be used as a dirtier form for â€Å"wanton† I can only wonder what the friend understands by wanton. Both whet and wet have been in the language since Ango-Saxon times. whet: OE hwettan to sharpen† Even back then the word could have the figurative sense of â€Å"to encourage.† wet: OE wà ¦t moist, liquid, OE wà ¦tan to be wet. OE wà ¦ter, â€Å"water.† When I taught young girls in England, I often heard one of them say that So-and-So was â€Å"wet.† It meant that the unfortunate girl under discussion was â€Å"socially ineffectual† or, as they may be saying now, â€Å"wimpy.† I don’t often hear the word wanton in ordinary conversation. It can mean â€Å"lascivious† as in â€Å"that wanton hussy.† Youre more likely to hear someone refer to â€Å"wanton cruelty.† In the latter example the meaning is â€Å"merciless, unfeeling, inhuman†: Leaving those dogs tied up in the backyard when they moved was wanton cruelty. The earliest meaning of wanton was similar to the French expression mal à ©levà ©, â€Å"badly brought up.† Wanton was a word to use when referring to unruly or unsocialized children as Shakespeare does in Lear: As flies to wanton boys are we to the Gods. They kill us for their sport. Wanton was originally a two-part word: wan-towen. OE wan meant â€Å"wanting or lacking.† OE togen was the past participle of teon, â€Å"to train, to discipline.† The wanton child was lacking in discipline. Expressions with â€Å"whet† in the sense of â€Å"encourage† or â€Å"stimulate† whet one’s appetite: stimulate one’s desire to eat whet one’s whistle: clear one’s throat by taking a drink whet one’s anger: increase feelings of anger Expressions with â€Å"wet† wet one’s whistle: take a drink wet-nurse (1620): a woman hired to nurse another’s infant wet dream (1851): nocturnal emission wet blanket (1879): a person who brings down the spirits of others, (the way a wet blanket may be used to smother a fire). to be all wet (1923): to be in the wrong wetback (1924): illegal Mexican immigrant (wet because of wading the Rio Grande). Bottomline: Using whet as a â€Å"dirtier form of wanton† is totally bizarre. (But then, not being au courant with the latest slang, I may be all wet.) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Regarding Re:50 Diminutive Suffixes (and a Cute Little Prefix)Oppose and Opposed To

Begum Surname Meaning and Family History

Begum Surname Meaning and Family History Begum is a Muslim honorific title for, or means of addressing, a respectable lady. It did not originally develop as a surname, but over time has been adopted as a last name by many unmarried women, especially in Bangladesh and Pakistan. Begum is quickly becoming a fairly common surname in America and England. A frequency map created by James Cheshire in 2012 puts Begum as the most popular surname in Londons  Tower Hamlets and south Camden neighborhoods. Surname Origin:  Muslim Alternate Surname Spellings:  BAIGUM, BEGAM Famous People With the Begum Last Name Hamida Banu Begum - Wife of the  second Mughal Emperor, Humayun, and mother of Mughal Emperor, Akbar.Mehnaz Begum - Pakistani singerFatma Begum -  Indias first female film directorAmeena Begum - Wife of Sufi master, Inayat Khan Where Is the Begum Surname Most Common? The last name Begum  is the 191st most common surname in the world, according to surname distribution information from  Forebears. It is most prevalent in India, where it ranks as the 37th most common last name, followed by Bangladesh (50th) and Fiji (92nd). Within India, the name is most prevalent in  Telangana, where it is the most common surname, followed by  Jammu and Kashmir, Pondicherry, Assam, and Delhi. WorldNames PublicProfiler  does not include surname data from India, but within Europe Begum is found most frequently in West Midlands, Yorkshire and Humberside, South East, North East and East Midlands, England. The name is also fairly common in Oslo, Norway. Genealogy Resources for the Surname BEGUM Begum Family Crest - Its Not What You ThinkContrary to what you may hear, there is no such thing as a Begum family crest or coat of arms for the Begum surname.  Coats of arms are granted to individuals, not families, and may rightfully be used only by the uninterrupted male-line descendants of the person to whom the coat of arms was originally granted. FamilySearch - BEGUM GenealogyExplore over 340,000  results from digitized  historical records and lineage-linked family trees related to the Begum surname on this free website hosted by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. GeneaNet - Begum RecordsGeneaNet includes archival records, family trees, and other resources for individuals with the Begum surname, with a concentration on records and families from France and other European countries. The Begum Genealogy and Family Tree PageBrowse genealogy records and links to genealogical and historical records for individuals with the Begum surname from the website of Genealogy Today. Ancestry.com: Begum SurnameExplore over 260,000  digitized records and database entries, including census records, passenger lists, military records, land deeds, probates, wills and other records for the Begum surname on the subscription-based website, Ancestry.com. References: Cottle, Basil.  Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books, 1967. Dorward, David.  Scottish Surnames. Collins Celtic (Pocket edition), 1998. Fucilla, Joseph.  Our Italian Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 2003. Hanks, Patrick and Flavia Hodges.  A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1989. Hanks, Patrick.  Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press, 2003. Reaney, P.H.  A Dictionary of English Surnames. Oxford University Press, 1997. Smith, Elsdon C.  American Surnames. Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997