the.com/whim
the smallest impulse that has overthrown kings, ended marriages, and bought boats nobody needed
means a sudden, passing desire or notion that seizes you without warning or reason
from A clipping of the older 'whim-wham,' a playful 17th-century reduplication meaning a trinket, fancy, or odd notion — the kind of bouncy nonsense-word English loves to make. By the late 1600s 'whim' had broken off on its own to mean a fanciful idea or sudden caprice. The deeper roots are murky; it's possibly related to Scandinavian words for whirling or wavering (compare Old Norse 'hvima,' to let the eyes wander), which fits a thing that flickers in and gives no account of itself.
- origin
- From whimwham, a fanciful trinket or ornament
- brain basis
- Impulse decisions form in under 300 milliseconds
- economy
- Impulse buys drive billions in retail yearly
- old meaning
- Once meant a sudden fancy bordering on madness