WFT- whinge

13 May 2009

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for Monday, May 11th was whinge.

to complain fretfully : whine

In their "Did you know?" section, M-W provided the following:

"Whinge" isn't just a spelling variant of "whine." "Whinge" and "whine" are actually entirely different words with separate histories. "Whine" traces to an Old English verb, "hwinan," which means "to make a humming or whirring sound." When "hwinan" became "whinen"in Middle English, it meant "to wail distressfully"; "whine" didn't acquire its "complain" sense until the 16th century. "Whinge," on the other hand, comes from a different Old English verb, "hwinsian," which means "to wail or moan discontentedly." "Whinge" retains that original sense today, though nowadays it puts less emphasis on the sound of the complaining and more on the discontentment behind the complaint.

This brings to mind an admonition from Scripture:

Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.  (Philippians 2:14-16)

May we not grumble or complain because we have so much to be thankful for.

This also brings to mind a line from Shakespeare's Richard III:

Now is the winter of our discontent, made glorious summer by this sun of York...

With this statement Shakespeare was declaring that the time of unhappiness was past and that the sun of York (i.e. Richard) has changed the season into summer.

Perhaps we as believers should paraphrase this as "Now is the winter of our discontent, made glorious summer by this Son of G-d..."

To Him be the glory and honor and praise forever.   Amen.

Torah Portion

unknown

 

 

or view this week's triennial cycle reading.

Today is

Yom Chamishi, 17 Nisan, 5784 - Resurrection Day: He is risen!

Thursday, April 25, 2024

 

Learn more about this date in history.