Whoa! vs Woah!

^ a visitor from the 'spiritual hats' thread

great work adamvania

didn't we do this a couple of years ago

Noah

ATTN: Copyeditors and Grammar Fiends

is this a January ritual dog latin? :)

huh, i genuinely don't remember writing that.

https://img.discogs.com/-L0uQ9iaerh1CMdrepBNqXOOUJU=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-2445721-1284474081.jpeg.jpg

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

...britishes?

Results otm and as stated fuiud

bill ladson concurs

wau

Definitely Woah. It flows the the best. The other way is clunky.

You're swimming against the floah.

this may be the final straw

I’m not trying to be disrespectful since I’m still relatively new here (and granted I haven’t read the thread yet) but my brother in law is in linguistics and he told me how this came up in a conference and they settled on “woah” so maybe let’s not be too proud of this cute poll thing here lol

being proud of cute polls is why this place exists

please note: linguists worthy of respect do not arrogate to themselves the power to decide such matters. they study what people say and write, amd accept them as the sole and final arbiters of correctness. if we ilxors conclude that 'whoa' is correct, then linguists cannot override us.

Okay that’s fine. I should just let people have their fun with this stuff. Ultimately some things just aren’t about what the truth is. Hey mods please feel free to delete my posts in this thread!

And other threads

No!!

you're new here? feels like you've been around a long time. like an old friend, or a favorite pair of socks.

I've never said either out loud tbh, but "Woah!" in the company of human beings seems appropriate, but I think you would say "Whoa!" to a horse, the -hw sounds seems to make more sense in the latter case. I would probably write "Woah!" because "Whoa!" looks a bit odd.

Hwoa, surely?

Wo - it's one syllable, two less letters. save us all time plz this planet hasn't got long

Hwoa only if you are about to tell us about the spear-Danes

Hwoa, surely?

I come from a place where /hw/ hasn't completely died out.

Everyone is probably too busy to do it but I get a sense from the recent posts that if this poll were run and voted on again that “woah!” would run away with it.

"whoa", and the back-up when it needs to use the restroom is "wo"

"woah" is back in toledo washing dishes

but yes, i am way too busy to use ilx right now lol

I maintain, as upthread, that 'woah' =

https://j.gifs.com/m26OYx.gif

i just want to add that i am definitely NOT too busy to use ilx right now, i was just being sarcastic. these are the issues that matter

https://i.imgur.com/ykXXqFu.png

case closed

I think you would say "Whoa!" to a horse

When spoken in human company, "whoa" (as I've heard it used) expresses surprise, but it also carries with it the implication of "slow down and give me a moment to absorb that".

it also carries with it the implication of "slow down and give me a moment to absorb that".

sometimes it does. but it can also mean "no no, stop that!", whether to a horse or to another person. i'm thinking back to various times in my life when i have witnessed something horrible that should immediately stop. it's tough to recall particulars, but i remember shouting variants of "whoa whoa whoa no! no!"

Big Don Afterthought going full Sidney Powell

"whoa" may be a more generalized word for me, though - almost more like a sound or a feeling, sometimes. whoa flies out of my mouth left and right, in many contexts