UNDERWHELMED
December 18th 2009 05:53
UNDERWHELMED
Lately I've been feeling rather underwhelmed by reality. Not overwhelmed but underwhelmed. Underwhelmed to my knowledge is not in the OED unless its been also coined by another and included in a recent supplement. I coined it this week to describe that that feeling when you are overturned or capsized by events but definitely feel disturbed and moved in a negative way.
Overwhelmed is a compound of over and whelm. Whelm is an odd form first recorded about 1300 AD and means capsize turn upside down or engulf.
Its related to the dialect word found in Northern English and Scots Lallans WHEMMEL an upset overturning or confusion. another related form is Whauve and Whelve.
It should derive from an OE (thats Old English) verb spelt something like hwielman or hwelman but no such verb has been recorded but OE has hywlfan and hwielfan and hwealf which means arch while OS Old Saxon has bihwelbian. OHG has welben and walbe the ancestor of Modern German wolben and ON has hvelfa and hvalf. The original Germanic form may have been something like * chwalb.
The underlying concept that links all these words is one of curving over like a roof or arch and in English this has a negative connotation reinforced by over.
Why am I feeling underwhelmed. My Gallery site has a bug in it effecting the upload so once again I have very few Xmas sales and no prospect of a juicy cheque in January or February when I need it the most.
This seems to be almost fixed and you can now view more tee designs at
My Red Bubble site
A relative will be having chemotherapy in January.
I dont feel my life is about to capsize but there are definitely disturbing ripples warning of a dangerous undertow and stronger waves to come.
UNDERWHELMED Copyright J. Vaux
Maybe I'll put on a tee shirt
Are you feeling underwhelmed by reality lately?
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Comment by Journeywoman
Great Hair Style Tips
I Dream of Hollywood
Fashion Peach
From the movie Ten Things I Hate About You (1999):
Chastity: I know you can be overwhelmed, and you can be underwhelmed, but can you ever just be whelmed?
Bianca: I think you can in Europe.
Good luck with the sales, hope they improve.
Comment by CORRY
Comment by Julie Vaux
Books Well Read
Strange Situations
The Purple Challenge
I wish I could report a late minute sales rush but alas no such luck!
The relative is still due to hav either radiation or chemo but they have delayed that until after they have a MRI scan.
Oh yeah and several of my relatives and acquaintances are SOOO not getting xmas cards on or off the web next year.
No Xmas messages by either email or snail mail from people who have web access and have incomes 3-5 or more times higher than mine? Sheesh!
Still feeling underwhelmed!?!