Word Confusion: Whoop versus Whup

Posted May 21, 2012 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
12 Jan 2023

Lately I’ve been coming across authors giving a whooping and I feel so confused. I suppose all that screamin’ and hollerin’ could provide sufficient punishment or be a result of a whupping, but I should have thought that a “good” beating is a more likely scenario after reading the context.

Not that I advocate whuppin‘ someone, but if the storyline calls for it . . .

Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.

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Whoop	Whup
Dawnswyr Môn z Bethel, Wales, is Lestat’s (Jan Mehlich) own work under the CC-BY-SA-2.5 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — Looks like she’s having fun and giving a whoop.	Rodney King Beating is courtesy of Staten Island Live. — They sure gave him a whuppin’!
Part of Grammar:
Exclamation; Noun Verb, intransitive & transitive Plural for the noun: whoops Gerund: whooping Third person present verb: whoops Past tense or past participle: whooped Present participle: whooping	Verb, transitive Third person present verb: whups Past tense or past participle: whupped Present participle: whupping Variant of whip
Exclamation: Another term for oops Used to express surprise, mild embarrassment, etc., or as a casual apology Used as a cry to attract attention from afar To show excitement, encouragement, enthusiasm, etc. Noun: Loud cry of joy or excitement A long rasping indrawn breath, typically of someone with whooping cough Verb, intransitive: Give or make a whoop To utter a loud cry or shout in expressing enthusiasm, excitement, etc. To cry as an owl, crane, or certain other birds To make the characteristic sound accompanying the deep intake of air following a series of coughs in whooping cough Verb, transitive: To utter with or as if with a whoop To whoop to or at To call, urge, pursue, or drive with whoops	[North American; informal] Beat, thrash Beat convincingly Defeat convincingly
Examples:
Exclamation: Whoops, my bad. Whoops, excuse me. Noun: The whoop of fast-approaching sirens. All we heard was whoops of delight. He’s got whooping cough. Oh, please. It’s not worth a whoop. I don’t give a whoop what you do. Verb, intransitive: They were all whooping with laughter. He whooped for joy. We’re gonna whoop it up this weekend! Every family reunion, the old folks like to whoop up the good old days. Verb, transitive: That Elmer. He’s always whoopin’ them dogs on.	He deserves the ass-whuppin’. They would whup him and send him home. If you lined up our guys against the 49ers, they’d get whupped.
Derivatives:
	Noun: whupping
History of the Word:
The first known use was between 1350-1400. Middle English whopen, from the Old English hwōpan meaning to threaten with the same origin as the Gothic hwopan meaning to boast. Probably imitative.	The first known use as the late 19th century, a Scottish variant of whip.

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

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