how come you can be overwhelmed and underwhelmed, but not just whelmed?

Question

plz i must know!!

i dont know who asked it before, but i must know the answer!

Answer 1

Who says? In fact, I was a bit whelmed this morning, myself. :)

Answer 2

All three words are cited in the dictionary. My guess is that "whelm," the archaic original - to upturn or submerge - didn't do the job and was supplanted by "overwhelm". Underwhelm appeared in the mid-20th Century, no doubt as a play on words that stuck.

Answer 3

Beyond the dictionary definitions of any of these terms, to be 'overwhelmed' generally signifies being 'overcome' in some fashion - as in declarations of praise for likely as seems to you, some relatively trivial act or spoken words that you have done / spoken:

'Underwhelmed' is a term most often used somewhere between humour and sarcasm.....

It might be used by yourself to indicate that that the response to something you have done or said, does not fit the level of 'praise' or of recompense for you actions or words
....wherein you were perhaps and likely anticipating more than that which arrived.

'Whelmed' .....just does not compute! (we are without data).

There, now you may breath easier.

Sash.

Answer 4

All 3 words are pronounced indoors the dictionary. My wager is that "whelm," the archaic unique - to upturn or submerge - did no longer do the activity and grew to develop into supplanted by using skill of "weigh down". Underwhelm common indoors the mid-twentieth Century, little question as a play on words that caught.

Answer 5

Perhaps you can:
whelm /ʰwɛlm, wɛlm/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[hwelm, welm] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–verb (used with object)
1. to submerge; engulf.
2. to overcome utterly; overwhelm: whelmed by misfortune.
–verb (used without object)
3. to roll or surge over something, as in becoming submerged.
[Origin: 1250–1300; ME whelme, appar. b. dial. whelve (OE gehwelfan to bend over) and helm2 (v.) (OE helmian to cover)]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
whelm (hwělm, wělm) Pronunciation Key
tr.v. whelmed, whelm·ing, whelms

1. To cover with water; submerge.
2. To overwhelm.



[Middle English whelmen, to overturn, probably alteration (influenced by helmen, to cover) of whelven, from Old English -hwelfan (as in āhwelfan, to cover over).]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
whelm
c.1300, probably from a parallel form of O.E. -hwielfan (W.Saxon), -hwelfan (Mercian), in ahwelfan "cover over;" probably altered by association with O.E. helmian "to cover" (see helmet).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
whelm

verb
overcome, as with emotions or perceptual stimuli [syn: overwhelm]

Answer 6

OK.

So let me tell you.

'Whelm' is an old english word which simply means to meet or join (perhaps welcome comes from this root?)

'Overwhelm' - A proffusion of meeting - A crowd - Too many

Underwhelm - The opposite

Answer 7

I'm not happy with underwhelmed, but OK.
With the passage of time, certain words go out of usage.
Another example is 'While not exactly disgusted, she was far from being gusted.'

Answer 8

Some lass asked this before.
it's off some film

Answer 9

I asked this question about an hour ago.

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AvGA.9KcQiQ0nYGJMN3e7dwhBgx.;_ylv=3?qid=20071204165144AAC2TSB