So... How Do You Pronounce "whinging" In The U.k.

[Clanad]

I see this term a lot on this site (as well as other British articles) and assume it correlates to our (U.S.) whining... meaning uneeded, unwanted and unappreciated groaning and moaning about a person, incident or life in general...

Ours is pronounced as spelled as in "wine - ing"...

Thanks in advance for this Colonist's continuing education in all things British!

[Mojo-Jo-Jo]

by the way, to me woof doesn't rhyme with roof.
it rhymes with wood for me.

[Mojo-Jo-Jo]

There's two theories. One is that it's an extinct Aussie rhyming slang and a contraction of pomegranate.
There other also is a contraction of pomegranate but it's because all the Brits look sunburned, but that's a bit spurious.
Lemme try to find out what the rhyming slang was

[THECORBYLOON]

There's an "h" in both words so it's hwinjing and hwyning.

[Wharton]

Is this in 'News' because there's no 'Gnus' topic?

[Mojo-Jo-Jo]

Oooo. Apparently it could also be because prisoners deported there had POHM stamped on their uniforms.

[Zeuhl]

There are several moot theories on the origin of 'Pom' and 'Pommies'

Michael Quinion's World Wide Words website is considered the most accurate:

"It is now pretty well accepted that the pomegranate theory is close to the truth, though there's a slight twist to take note of. HJ Rumsey wrote about it in 1920 in the introduction to his book The Pommies, or New Chums in Australia. He suggested that the word began life on the wharves in Melbourne as a form of rhyming slang. An immigrant was at first called a Jimmy Grant (was there perhaps a famous real person by that name around at the time?), but over time this shifted to Pommy Grant, perhaps as a reference to pomegranate, because the new chums did burn in the sun. Later pommy became a word on its own and was frequently abbreviated still further. The pomegranate theory was also given some years earlier in The Anzac Book of 1916.

"Whatever your beliefs about this one, what seems to be true is that the term is not especially old, dating from the end of the nineteenth century at the earliest, certainly not so far back as convict ship days".

[Mojo-Jo-Jo]

but the rhyming slang comes from a jimmy grant (immigrant) to a pommy Grant (because they sunburned) to a pom.

[237SJ]

Pom is Prisoner Of Her Majesty (or that`s what my Aussie pal says anyway}

[jim360]

I tihnk the "prisoner of her majesty" theory is a backronym, like golf has nothing to do with "gentlemen only, ladies forbidden".

[mikey4444]

Whining and Whinging amount to the same thing but they are two different words, that are pronounced differently.

Wining is wine-ing, as wining and dining. Whing-ing is winge-ing, as in binge drinking, or perhaps cringing, as an animal might do if you threatened it with a good smack.

When a child has been refused sweets ( your candy ! ) they might whine a bit but if they continued being annoying, than they would be described as whinging.

Interestingly, my spell checker isn't having whinging one little bit, and it is set to English English, not American English !

I think whinging is a type of word that has a special name, probably PORTMANTEAU. Here is the Blessed Wiki on the subject ::

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portmanteau#Standard_English

Sorry if this is perhaps too much information !

Please feel free to ask us brainy people here on AB if there is anything else that us Brits say or do that puzzles you....we are only too glad to help !

[jno]

the OED boss goes with the immigrant/Jimmy Grant theory

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22378819

[jno]

jim, Tibet's over thataway

[jim360]

Yeah, wrong thread jno...

[mikey4444]

Don't worry jim...we have all done it at least once !

[FredPuli43]

Clanad, the word is whingeing, not 'whinging', at least over here, and is pronounced win-jing. Whinge: to complain; to cry in a fretful way[Collins Dictiionary]

Whining, pronounced wine-ing, is from whine:to make a high-pitched plaintive moan or cry; to make a peevish complaint, often one repeated

[margie04]

Dogs whine, people whinge?