Two spelling questions I’m looking for a consensus on.
I’ve always felt the correct spelling is “whoa”. But I’m increasingly seeing the word spelled “woah”. Has woah become an acceptable variant spelling or is it still considered to be a misspelling?
I’ve seen a couple of references to “perqs” as in “one of the perqs of the job”. I know that it’s a shortening of the word perquisite, but I’ve always felt it should be spelled perk not perq. Again, is perq an acceptable variant spelling or is it a misspelling?
(For what it’s worth, my spell check flags woah and perq as misspellings.)
Nothing authoritative, but I happen to side with you in both cases. If I was to see “perq” or “woah” used in written conversation with somebody, I would probably blow a gasket. But I am a bit anal like that.
I agree. Indeed, someone who writes “perq” is being a little anal - trying to reflect the derivation of the word from perquisite. At this stage, the work is clearly “perk”.
I agree that “whoa” is the norm. It is just representing a sound, so I would be less angry about “woah”. However, as there is a standard way to spell it, I would expect that. It is like saying that a cow “moues” instead of “moos”. it’s the same sound, but not the expected norm.
For some reason, the “woah” spelling became associated with Keanu Reeves in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Some sites still spell it “whoa” but that seems to be the modern source.
First few hits off Google for bill & ted’s excellent adventure woah -whoa
The first place I’d seen it spelled that way is the English translation of The Adventures of Tintin, where “woah” (with interior vowels sometimes repeated for longer cries) is used to represent the vocalizations of a distressed Snowy (Tintin’s dog). Having no access to the French original, I can’t tell if this spelling originated with Herge or his translators.
Until I read this thread, I had no idea that perk/perq was short for anything - had I seen the word “perquisite”, I’d have assumed that somebody had badly butchered the spelling of “prerequisite”
I could see why they would differentiate. The California version is often pronounced with the “stoner’s throat” at the end, more like “woah-h-h”. That additional little stutter is not really captured with “whoa”.
Another vote for “whoa” is the only way to spell horse-stopping & “woah” is a correct spelling for Californian “wow duuude!”. “Perk” is right; “perq” is written by a literal sophomore; somebody who thinks they’re a lot more literate than they are.
“Oogling” is a typo or an idiot. “Ogling” is the only correct form.
I once heard a conversation between two of my co-workers. They had started arguing about other issues but it had reached the point of arguing about spelling.
“And you spell dismissal wrong. You always spell it d-i-s-m-i-s-a-l.”
“There’s more than one way to spell it.”
“There’s probably a hundred ways to spell it. But only one of them is right.”