# why did some people use to say 'what?' at the end of every sentence, what? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 17, 2002, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097 "2002-11-17T00:15:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097/1 "2002-11-17T00:15:39Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097/2 "2002-11-17T00:17:03Z")
what? ‘use to’? I meant to say ‘used to’. mod - please change it before [more] people think I am an illiterate idiot. thankyou. ---
**Author:** ![Wearia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Wearia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wearia)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097/3 "2002-11-17T00:18:37Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097/4 "2002-11-17T00:18:40Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097/5 "2002-11-17T00:21:19Z")
**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. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097/6 "2002-11-17T01:45:37Z")
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?) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097/7 "2002-11-17T01:48:35Z")
“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. ---
**Author:** ![JillGat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097/8 "2002-11-17T03:05:43Z")
In Singapore and Trinidad and Tobago - two previously British colonies - people say, “… is it?” “You liked that restaurant, is it?” ---
**Author:** ![Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9fc348/32.png) [@Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Luna)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097/9 "2002-11-17T03:15:43Z")
JillGat > [@](#): > > In Singapore and Trinidad and Tobago - two previously British colonies - people 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. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097/10 "2002-11-17T11:30:32Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097/11 "2002-11-17T11:31:52Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097/12 "2002-11-17T11:33:39Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097/13 "2002-11-17T11:35:38Z")
(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. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097/14 "2002-11-17T12:15:38Z")
**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. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2002, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097/15 "2002-11-17T12:21:22Z")
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?” ---
**Author:** ![Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9fc348/32.png) [@Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Luna)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097/16 "2002-11-20T15:49:43Z")
True, true! We do that “one” thing a lot. The “lah” thing just drives most foreigners not from Singapore or Malaysia, freaking nuts! ---
**Author:** ![Alexxandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/278dde/32.png) [@Alexxandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alexxandra)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097/17 "2002-11-20T16:00:34Z")
THank goodness Canadians don’t do that, eh? ---
**Author:** ![Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9fc348/32.png) [@Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Luna)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097/18 "2002-11-20T16:42:06Z")
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** > [@](#): > > In Singlish, instead of “wot,” they interject “one” a lot—right, Luna? > … > I new-lah here. Take taxi; driver sure know one. If I may, it should be “I new here, lah. Take taxi, mah. Driver sure know one!” **jjimm** > [@](#): > > P.S. I love Singlish: “Why you so like that, laah?” 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. ---
**Author:** ![Aro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097/19 "2002-11-20T16:55:19Z")
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!) ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097/20 "2002-11-20T17:00:19Z")
Would you people just speak English and be done with it already! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097.md?page=2)