Whet/wet one's appetite
November 21, 2005
Ha ha! I believe an eggcorn (it is an eggcorn, isn’t it Chris?) has been spotted in the wild on this very website (in the comments of the entry before this one)! Apparently, it’s a very common one: a search on google for "wet your appetite" gave 90,200 results, against 503,000 for the correct version, "whet your appetite". I ran to the library to find out that whet comes from Middle English whetten, from Old English hwettan, whereas wet comes from Old English wæt. The things I’d do to go out and enjoy this lovely autumn day.
Posted by céline, in Idioms, on November 21, 2005Yep. Whet and not wet. Interestingly the only thing whetted nowadays is appetite. But knives are still sharpened on whetstones.
Posted by Xavier Kreiss on November 23, 2005 8:33 PMActually, to correct (or expound upon) the notion that "only appetites are whetted" you've forgotten about "whet your whistle" (or 'wet your whistle', another erroneous enticement to buy a beer).
Posted by Mark Vogel on December 6, 2005 2:38 AMPrevious: November 18, 2005
De but en blanc and à brûle-pourpoint >>
Next: November 23, 2005
<< Unpaid tests