Timeline for Why do Christians in American deep south say "whenever" when they mean "when"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
10 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Nov 19 at 12:10 | comment | added | Phil Sweet | I think we just draw the line differently than northerners. Southerners have a higher expectation of aspectual content in their communication, and what we consider non-specific aspectual references are significantly different than in Standard English. Southerners can use whenever to opt-out of supplying the level of detail Southerners expect- a level that is not expected in SE. | |
| Nov 19 at 5:27 | answer | added | Sven Yargs | timeline score: 8 | |
| Nov 19 at 5:27 | history | edited | Sven Yargs |
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| Jun 6 at 13:32 | comment | added | Eric Hepperle - CodeSlayer2010 |
@alphabet Thanks for that link - good to find a record of the phenomena in discussed in writing! Maybe it should have its own term like whenever conundrum?
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| Sep 4, 2023 at 22:53 | comment | added | alphabet | This article from Grammarphobia describes the phenomenon, but I'm not sure if anyone knows its history. | |
| Mar 27, 2021 at 16:02 | comment | added | Lawrence | Thank you for replying. That’s very interesting background information. | |
| Mar 27, 2021 at 12:43 | comment | added | Eric Hepperle - CodeSlayer2010 | @Lawrence Not at all. I can't say for certain if Muslims, or Hindus, or Satanists in the South use this terminology. The question is from the vantage point of someone has first-hand experience hearing it in Christian churches in the deep south. I suspect it is a colloquialism that started in the Northeastern churches in the 1800s around the time of the "2nd Great Awakening", and that became common usage by the 1960s throughout the deep south. But that's just conjecture on my part. | |
| Mar 21, 2021 at 20:27 | comment | added | BoldBen | @Lawrence I would think that people who believe in the Cycle of Karma and Rebirth would be more likely than Christians to say "whenever I was a child". | |
| Mar 21, 2021 at 16:13 | comment | added | Lawrence | Your question’s title singles out Christians, but I don’t see any justification in the question’s text that faith has any bearing on this particular turn of phrase. Are you saying that others in the American deep south - atheists, for example - speak differently? | |
| Mar 21, 2021 at 11:13 | history | asked | Eric Hepperle - CodeSlayer2010 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |