# 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:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097/21 "2002-11-20T17:30:34Z")
And here I was about to come in here and blame it all on Stone Cold Steve Austin and his annoying “What?” catchphrase. ---
**Author:** ![manwithaplan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@manwithaplan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manwithaplan)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097/22 "2002-11-20T17:46:33Z")
In Dublin, ‘what’, or more accurately ‘wha’ is regularly used at the end of sentences. Contrary to the “spiffing day, what what” usage, it’s associated with a particular type of working class Dubliner, usually known as a ‘skanger’. A skanger might say, “are yis goin’ strokin’, wha’” or “deadly runners, wha’” or most commonly “Jaysus, wha’”. It’s intoned as a question but it’s often rhetorical (big words, wha’). MWAP (on me bleedin’ computer, wha’) ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097/23 "2002-11-20T17:53:27Z")
Though a long-term resident of this Fair City[sup]TM[/sup], I am entirely **Luna** , yes, I’ve been to Singapore several times, because I was working for a company that was developing buildings in the Johor Bahru land reclamation. I also stayed with a friend in Seletar for a month. Loved it. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097/24 "2002-11-20T17:54:46Z")
What I meant to say was: Though a long-term resident of this Fair City[sup]TM[/sup], I am entirely [incapable of finishing a sentence] unaware of what “goin’ strokin’” means. Please elucidate. ---
**Author:** ![manwithaplan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@manwithaplan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manwithaplan)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097/25 "2002-11-20T18:00:21Z")
Robbin’, liftin’, yeh bleedin’ blow-in;) ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097/26 "2002-11-20T18:28:35Z")
“What” at the end of a sentence was a verbal tic of George III’s - actually, he would often repeat and emphasize it: “What _stuff_ this Shakespeare is! Only one must not say so, what! what!” I don’t know whether the habit began with him; I would guess not, since George III is hardly a role model anyone would want to emulate… ---
**Author:** ![jiHymas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/439d5e/32.png) [@jiHymas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jiHymas)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097/27 "2002-11-20T18:55:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bryan Ekers \* > \*\*“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. \*\* I agree … although I think it’s a abbreviation of “God wot”. See [The Parliament of Fowles](http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/OMACL/Parliament/parliament.html) > [@](#): > > _Geoffrey Chaucer_ > **594 Ye, quek!’ yit quod the doke, ful wel and faire, > 595 `There been mo sterres, god wot, than a paire!'** As for what the entire quote means, god wot, what? ---
**Author:** ![Super\_Gnat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Super\_Gnat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Super_Gnat)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2002, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097/28 "2002-11-20T19:04:59Z")
> [@](#): > > As for what the entire quote means, god wot, what? Probably means “God knows”. I say that sometimes (“God only knows what you’re doin’ in here”). ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097/29 "2002-11-21T07:01:56Z")
Wasn’t this one of Stone Cold Steve Austin’s catchphrases? I’m not a wrestling fan, but some of my friends are so I hear these kinds of things second-hand. I think how it went was when he would say something the crowd would shout back “What?” ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097/30 "2002-11-21T08:36:28Z")
I think Stonecold postdates George III by a few years. It’s just a meaningless verbal spacefiller, like the Canadian “eh” or the Welsh “isn’t it” or the Piratese “arrh” ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097/31 "2002-11-21T09:06:01Z")
> [@](#): > > As for what the entire quote means, god wot, what? > > > [@](#): > > > > Probably means “God knows”. I say that sometimes (“God only knows what you’re doin’ in here”). [Off the top of my head] “Quack!” said the duck emphatically, “God knows, there are more than two stars in the sky!” ---
**Author:** ![RussellM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed8c4c/32.png) [@RussellM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RussellM)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097/32 "2002-11-21T10:22:43Z")
While **Aro** found people in Scotland adding like at the end of sentences like, we also have a huge number of people in Edinburgh who sound Canadian, eh. Every sentence has to end with , eh And another thing - why do so many people overuse the phrase ‘as such’ in exactly the same way? Russell ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097/33 "2002-11-21T11:52:34Z")
In Singapore don’t people often say “can?” at the end of a sentence (as in can do/can’t do?) I read once that it is a female characteristic of conversation to use “isn’t it?” at the end of the sentence. Ie, “it’s cold today, isn’t it?” The purpose of this is not to be didactic in a sentence and instead open it up for further debate/comment, thereby extending the communication. The same article/book also said that unfortunately the male characteristic can be to interpret that as the speaker needing reassurance/confirmation of the sentence. Ie, when A (usually the female) says “it’s cold, isn’t it?” she knows it is cold and is just sharing the observation. But B (usually the male) assumes that A doesn’t really know/isn’t really sure. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097/34 "2002-11-21T12:54:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jjimm \* > \*\* > > P.S. I _love_ Singlish: “Why you so like that, laah?” \*\* Am I the only person round here who thinks that sounds Scouse? I remember thos echaps from “The Las” used to add “la” on the end of everything. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-some-people-use-to-say-what-at-the-end-of-every-sentence-what/137097.md?page=1)