Whoa vs Woah

When Keanu Reeves needs to express an opinion what is the word he uses?

I was raised that you spelled it “whoa” and there was no other acceptable spelling. But lately I’ve been seeing the word “woah” with increasing frequency. At first I assumed it was just poor spell checking but I’ve now been seeing it in more authoritative places. Is “woah” an acceptable (or even preferred) way to spell this word? If the “h” is allowed to drift to new locations will we soon be seeing “woha” or even “hwoa”? Maybe the other letters will be encouraged by this rogue letter’s reckless example and we’ll have to endure “owah” or “hwao”.

(Insert clever joke about “woe is me” that I’m too tired to make at 3:00 am)

*Whoa *is the only correct way to write it and, similarly, it is whoo, not woo and whee, not wee.

I think “woah” is largely a result of people who pronounce it as two syllables for added emphasis. “Whoa-uh” versus “whoa”.

For words that are spelled like they sound, if someone says it so it sounds differently from how it’s normally spelled, I tend to spell it differently too. Of course “woah” isn’t quite right that way either.

So, it’s “Feelings, whoa, whoa, whoa, feelings?” Nonsense. :dubious:

Whoa is a command to stop. The “h” is sounded.

People say “whoa-uh?”

Who are these people? And where can I find them?

Perhaps Keanu is the best example of why someone might write it as ‘woah’ - he does actually end and follow the vocalisation with a sort of subvocal laugh/‘huh’