The way I learned it, is that people have a tendency to emphasize, so when became overwhelmed. You see the same thing with ‘good’, ‘great’, and 'epic’meaning the same thing within certain contexts.
If you want to get technical, I believe “whelm” originally came from waves hitting the hull of a ship, overwhelmed was when the waves crashed over the side and onto the deck.
‘Jam’ can mean a fruit preserve, to play music, a stuck door, traffic, to cram something into something else, a tense situation, or to block a radio signal. All spelled and pronounced the same.
As an Asian, “Midwest” always feels off. Only now I realized this is the same shit as “Middle East” (which I forgot to give second thoughts as an adult). Now both terms really sucks to me!
Adultery is not the opposite of infantry; whimsy is not an adjective; you can live together in an apartment; and the Midwest is in the Eastern US.
“flammable” and “inflammable” mean the same thing
What a country!
"Inflammable means flammable, what a country! "
Dr. Nick
Edit added end of quote
Bye, everybody! *dies*
Why can I be overwhelmed or underwhelmed, but not perfectly adequately whelmed?
Whelm and overwhelm are synonyms.
The way I learned it, is that people have a tendency to emphasize, so when became overwhelmed. You see the same thing with ‘good’, ‘great’, and 'epic’meaning the same thing within certain contexts.
If you want to get technical, I believe “whelm” originally came from waves hitting the hull of a ship, overwhelmed was when the waves crashed over the side and onto the deck.
‘Jam’ can mean a fruit preserve, to play music, a stuck door, traffic, to cram something into something else, a tense situation, or to block a radio signal. All spelled and pronounced the same.
Also door jambs
That actually makes sense because it’s from the point of view of Europe.
Just as middle east and western Asia are the same region
As an Asian, “Midwest” always feels off. Only now I realized this is the same shit as “Middle East” (which I forgot to give second thoughts as an adult). Now both terms really sucks to me!
It is from the POV of the original colonies.
This explains some of my US geography confusion over the years…
Midwest is not a place, it is a People.