Whelmed.

I am overwhelmed. I finally decided it would be a good idea to look over what I need to get done for school.

I have three weeks, pretty much, to complete everything and turn it in.

It may be a little more than I was expecting. At least I looked now, and not two days before I needed to send it off.

I'll be fine. It's only 20-40 pages, right?

Yeah, that's the best part. There's no guidance for how long the whole thing should be. "However long it takes you to tell us everything we need to know." Whatever that means.

Onto the real issue.

What does the word WHELMED mean? Is it even a word?

I've had the discussion with people (obviously, no one who is sure) before. A person can be overwhelmed; they can be underwhelmed; can they be whelmed?

Hold on...let me look it up. I want to end this internal debate once and for all.

Ok. This is thanks to dictionary.com.

whelm (hwělm, wělm) 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).] (Download Now or Buy the Book)

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth EditionCopyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

So there you go. It's a word that apparently means the same thing as overwhelmed. Never would have guessed.

Aren't you glad we all learned something today?