Talk:whistful

RFV discussion: August–September 2017

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whistful

"Peaceful, tranquil." One cite, from a vanity-published book, that could very well be a misspelling for "wistful", as are all the other uses I can find. Equinox ◑ 11:34, 5 August 2017 (UTC)

I find so many entries that use it as a misspelling of "wistful" that I have added it as a misspelling entry. I agree that the editor probably misinterpreted the quote. Kiwima (talk) 20:21, 5 August 2017 (UTC)

Nothing for "having an abundance of card-playing"?It's lame, I know, but I've deleted far worse... Chuck Entz (talk) 21:45, 5 August 2017 (UTC)

The AHD etymology is interesting, not least because of the connection it asserts between wistful and whist#Adjective.whist#Interjection:

[Alteration (influenced by WISHFUL) of obsolete wistly, intently, perhaps from variant of whistly, whishtly, silently, from whist, silent, from whist, hush! (interjection calling for silence), from Middle English, of imitative origin.] DCDuring (talk) 22:05, 5 August 2017 (UTC)

No dictionary includes whistful, so we are in good company in not treating it as more than a misspelling. But to me whistful seems to better fit normal English spelling patterns than wistful. Should it be an alternative spelling? DCDuring (talk) 22:09, 5 August 2017 (UTC)

That had occurred to me as well, especially because this is the spelling used in Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, and you would think that Gray checked his spelling! Kiwima (talk) 01:35, 6 August 2017 (UTC)

RFV-failed Kiwima (talk) 18:20, 5 September 2017 (UTC)