I have purchased a new hat, what?
Have you? Is it exquisite? what?
Yes. I am most pleased with it. what?
why!!?
you must know what I am talking about. Why is it that, in ‘olden times’ in England (or elswhere - for all I know) certain posh, mainly old, gentlemen would say ‘what?’ without meaning to ask a question?
what? ‘use to’? I meant to say ‘used to’. mod - please change it before [more] people think I am an illiterate idiot.
thankyou.
Do you mean “wot”?
For example:
My my, mighty spiffin of you wot wot!
Thats the largest rhubarb pie I’ve ever seen wot!
I’m not sure about where its from but I just wanted to make sure I knew what you meant.
I am not even sure if ‘used to’ is the correct way of saying it. oh sod it. change the subject to ‘arse fanny table’ if you like.
Wearia No. I was reading ‘Vintage Wodehouse’. You can’t get much more ‘old english gent speak’ than Wodehouse. one of the stories involved a character who had the habit mentioned in the op. Wodehouse spelled it ‘what’ every time.
Old?
Such an impertinent pup, what?
(It is a lazy speech habit, nothing more. Rather like you Yanks saying “like” constantly during the '60s, or the continous use of “dude” more recently. Nothing to do with a secret recognition symbol for the followers of the Queen who are involved with her and the Rothschilds in their plot to control the world by running the narcotic drug trade throughout the English-speaking world. No, nothing like that, what?)
“Wot,” meaning “to know” (and of similar origin as “wit”) gets tacked on for the exactly same reason some people compulsively throw in “y’know?” every few sentences. You aren’t really asking a question when you use it, but trying to make sure the other person understands whatever point you’re discussing.
“Wot” is a very old English word, at least 800 years.
In Singapore and Trinidad and Tobago - two previously British colonies - people say, “… is it?”
“You liked that restaurant, is it?”
JillGat
Yes, we do.
We also use “what” in phrases such as, “But you don’t have to buy such an expensive dress, what!” Such expressions aren’t really questions, but an outburst of frustration or exasperation.
I must admit, I add ‘like’ to the end of a lot of things. And I’m not even American.
I think I am doing it to express my unsureness of what I am saying, like.
I’d prefer it if my habit was to say ‘what’ (emphasising the ‘h’) instead of like, but I’d probably get punched in the face for being ridiculously posh, what?
And if someone asks me a question that I have to think about, I precede my answer with a long ‘ermmmmmm’. But I guess everyone does that, what?
(I must learn to say all I am going to say in one reply.)
It would be weird if people didn’t ‘erm’ or look joey-from-friends style up at the ceiling inquisitively when asked a question. The asker would think you are ignoring them.
Bryan Ekers, this theory is intriguing — wert thou earnest or jesting?
Wot as the past tense of *wit[/] — Old English witan, ‘to know’ (cognate with Sanskrit veda ‘knowledge’, Latin video ‘I see’). Rather than the interrogative “what”.
An Old English version of “Y’know?”
In Singlish, instead of “wot,” they interject “one” a lot—right, Luna?
You cannot go there one.
He can sing one.
I new-lah here. Take taxi; driver sure know one.
My 88-year-old, very posh, retired English Naval commander grandad still says “what” at the end of his sentence, what what? He also says “goff” for “golf”.
And he still uses Windows 3.1. God bless those old people!
P.S. I love Singlish: “Why you so like that, laah?”
True, true! We do that “one” thing a lot. The “lah” thing just drives most foreigners not from Singapore or Malaysia, freaking nuts!
THank goodness Canadians don’t do that, eh?
Sorry, people! I didn’t mean to send off my reply so quickly, but I was so amused that instead of hitting the preview button, I hit on submit!
Jomo Mojo
If I may, it should be
“I new here, lah. Take taxi, mah. Driver sure know one!”
jjimm
Babe, it should be
“Why you so like that, har?”
Jomo Mojo, jjimm, almost there, but not quite! Have you ever spend time here in Singapore? Ever heard us use the phrase “shiokalingum good”?
No fooling you Dopers, is it? - dedicated to JillGat.
An Uni in Scotland I had a flatmate, like, who would, like, you know, like, happen to say “like”, at, like, the end of all the, like, sentences he said, like. And, like, sometimes in the, like, middle too, like.
Do you, like, get it, like? You know what I mean, like? (Enough to drive you nuts!)
Would you people just speak English and be done with it already!