Automattic / Automattic/harper

Handle the difference between whale, wail, and wale.

Open
#3,642 0 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
enhancement harper-core linting
Dominant language
Rust
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Description

**The Error**
These three are commonly mixed up, and they all mean different things.
- Whale: Means the animal, to hit something very hard, or something that is impressively large.
- Wail: Is to play something very well, or to make a loud crying.
- Wale: Means to mark the skin with welts.

**Examples (2-3):**
1. _Man, I wailed her._ Should be _Man, I whaled her._
2. _Dax wales him with the news that Betazed has fallen to the Dominion._ Should be: _Dax whales him with the news that Betazed has fallen to the Dominion._
3. _Those girls really wailed on you bad._ Should be: _Those girls really whaled on you bad._
4. _If I remember that last fight right, I wailed on your two seeders_ Should be: _If I remember that last fight right, I whaled on your two seeders_
5. _*With* it, they were merely enduring a full-body onslaught like being waled on by a whole baseball team while a pair of sumo wrestlers tried to bend them into bowties._ Should be: _*With* it, they were merely enduring a full-body onslaught like being whaled on by a whole baseball team while a pair of sumo wrestlers tried to bend them into bowties._

**References**
https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/usage-of-whale-wail-wale

**Potential Edge Cases**
Whenever, wail or wale are used, but not with the intention of meaning to hit something with great force.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start by searching the repository for existing spelling or usage rules and their tests, then compare their conventions with the five examples and the Merriam-Webster reference. The work is done when whale, wail, and wale are distinguished correctly, while wail and wale remain valid when they do not mean hitting something with force.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
rust
Domain
tooling
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
62/100

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