So today at practice, my coach said something along the lines of ‘wane-off.’ I have always said way(weigh?) enough (sometimes slurred together to make waynuff) so I asked him about it. He told me that that’s not how you pronounce it. He told me it wasn’t ‘enough,’ it was ‘off,’ but I’m pretty sure I’m right … what do you say?
You are correct in that it is “way enough”. According to Wikipedia, it is sometimes pronounced “wane off” in the United States but I’ve never heard it before and am pretty sure that no coxswain or former-coxswain-turned-coach would advocate for it’s use over the more widely known and accepted “way enough”.
I read this great article a few years ago that explained the history, origin, etc. of “weigh enough”, which is the more archaic version of the modern “way enough”. I spent about twenty minutes looking for it but couldn’t find it. I did however come across this article from an old Doctor Rowing column in rowing news that talks a bit about the history of the term and the weigh vs. way debate. It’s on page 46 if it doesn’t go directly to it.
Bottom line – way/weigh enough is the term to use.
