Whatever

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"Whatever" is a slang term meaning "whatever you say" or "I don't care what you say". The term is used to dismiss a previous statement and express indifference. In the late 20th century and early 21st century, the word became a sentence in its own right; in effect an interjection, it is used as a powerful conversational blocking tool, leaving the responder without a convincing retort. Anything they do or say can simply be blocked by the retort of "whatever"..

History

Prevalent among the affluent "valley girls" of California in the 1980s, it was known to be offensive as in saying, "I don't think what you are saying is relevant" (as used in the film Clueless), according to slang expert Tony Thorne, who first recorded it there. It was a term used by WAGs - the wives and girlfriends of movie stars and producers but picked up as part of the code of the 'valley girls'.

Abbreviations

A common abbreviation is Whatevs but an even more common form of the abbreviation is Whatev. It is a way of showing one's indifference in slang form. It is an example of "slang of the slang."

A shorter version, "Evs", made it into American pop consciousness when used by Australian rocker Toby Rand on the American reality television series Rock Star: Supernova.^[1]

In internet slang it is sometimes abbreviated as "w/e".

Cultural impact

According to a 2009 Marist College poll, "whatever" was voted as the phrase that is "most annoying in conversation".^[2]

On the TV show All in the Family which premiered in 1971, 'whatever' was frequently used by the main character, Archie Bunker, as a dismissive response to his wife, Edith Bunker.

The English translation of Michel Houellebecq's 1994 novel Extension du domaine de la lutte, which describes the chronically disaffected life^[3] of a computer programmer, was titled "Whatever".

In some cultures, the semantic content of "whatever" can also be communicated using a hand gesture that of extending the forefingers and thumbs of both hands, and letting the thumb-tips touch, forming three acute angles that suggest the shape of the letter "W"; this gesture may be made against the gesturer's own forehead, similarly to the "L" of the 'Loser' gesture. As seen in the segment "Ang Spoiled" from the Filipino comedy program Bubble Gang.

References

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