tsundoku

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by HarryT

There are certainly words in British English that don't appear to exist in American English. A while ago I used the word "whinge" in a post here at MR, for example, and an American poster asked me what it meant.

Doesn't whinge = whine? Or is there some different shade of meaning?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Doesn't whinge = whine? Or is there some different shade of meaning?

It's a similar word, but subtly different in meaning. I'd be hard-pressed to define what the difference is, but I'd know when to use one in preference to the other.

[latepaul]

To my mind whine is somewhat onomatopoeic so I associate whining with someone being literally or metaphorically "shrill" whereas whinge feels more like a more general grumbling or moaning.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by latepaul

To my mind whine is somewhat onomatopoeic so I associate whining with someone being literally or metaphorically "shrill" whereas whinge feels more like a more general grumbling or moaning.

Yes, I think I'd generally associate whining with children, and whinging with adults.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Yes, I think I'd generally associate whining with children, and whinging with adults.

Or childish, entitled "adults".

[QuantumIguana]

Whine or whinge is also commonly used as an ad hominem attack, attempting to dismiss one's opponent as nothing but whining without actually rebutting it.

[jandrew]

Originally Posted by QuantumIguana

Whine or whinge is also commonly used as an ad hominem attack, attempting to dismiss one's opponent as nothing but whining without actually rebutting it.

Whining about ad hominem attacks is the last refuge of the whinger.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It's a similar word, but subtly different in meaning. I'd be hard-pressed to define what the difference is, but I'd know when to use one in preference to the other.

So if someone says, "Everyone is against me, I never get anything I want, nothing ever goes right, woe is me," is that whining or whinging?

[ShellShock]

Originally Posted by Catlady

So if someone says, "Everyone is against me, I never get anything I want, nothing ever goes right, woe is me," is that whining or whinging?

I would call it whinging. Whining would be more like "I want, I want, I want, boo hoo" preferably ending with a shrill screech and tears.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by ShellShock

I would call it whinging. Whining would be more like "I want, I want, I want, boo hoo" preferably ending with a shrill screech and tears.

Thanks. Seems like a pretty subtle difference. What I'm getting is that whinging would be closer to complaining in American English.

[hrosvit]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That's one of the themes of Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four"; that removing a word (like "rebellion") from the language, means that people will no longer be able to imagine the concept expressed by the word.

Which is, as we all know, doubleplusungood.

[DrNefario]

Originally Posted by Catlady

Thanks. Seems like a pretty subtle difference. What I'm getting is that whinging would be closer to complaining in American English.

It is a lot like complaining, but I think whinging is more futile. You might expect a response to a complaint, but probably not to a whinge. It's rhetorical complaining.

You'd complain to the hotel staff about the state of the room, but you'd whinge to your friends about it.

That's how it seems to me, anyway.

See also grumbling, moaning, griping, etc.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by DrNefario

It is a lot like complaining, but I think whinging is more futile. You might expect a response to a complaint, but probably not to a whinge. It's rhetorical complaining.

You'd complain to the hotel staff about the state of the room, but you'd whinge to your friends about it.

That's how it seems to me, anyway.

See also grumbling, moaning, griping, etc.

English has a lot of words for that kind of behavior.
Might serve as evidence that vocabulary does indeed s hape behavior.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by DrNefario

It is a lot like complaining, but I think whinging is more futile. You might expect a response to a complaint, but probably not to a whinge. It's rhetorical complaining.

You'd complain to the hotel staff about the state of the room, but you'd whinge to your friends about it.

That's how it seems to me, anyway.

Yes, I agree.

[Catlady]

Thanks for the explanations.