''Whatever'' is a

slang Slang is vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in spoken conversation but avoided in formal writing. It also sometimes refers to the language generally exclusive to the members of particular in-gro ...

term meaning "whatever you say" , "I don't care what you say" or "what will be will be". The term is used either to dismiss a previous statement and express indifference or in affirmation of a previous statement as "whatever will be will be". An interjection of "whatever" can be considered offensive and impolite or it can be considered affirming. In the late 20th century and early 21st century, the word became a sentence in its own right; in effect an

interjection An interjection is a word or expression that occurs as an utterance on its own and expresses a spontaneous feeling or reaction. It is a diverse category, encompassing many different parts of speech, such as exclamations ''(ouch!'', ''wow!''), curse ...

, often but not always, used as a passive-aggressive conversational blocking tool, leaving the responder without a convincing retort.

History

Early examples of current usage include a 1965 episode of ''

Bewitched ''Bewitched'' is an American fantasy sitcom television series that originally aired for eight seasons on ABC from September 17, 1964, to March 25, 1972. It is about a witch who marries an ordinary mortal man and vows to lead the life of a typic ...

'' in which the character Endora exclaims "All right, whatever" to her daughter, lead character

Samantha Stephens This is a list of characters in '' Bewitched'', an American fantasy television sitcom which aired from 1964 to 1972. Cast Main Recurring Cast notes: Main characters Samantha Stephens Samantha Stephens (Elizabeth Montgomery) is a witch an ...

, and also the much maligned 1965 sitcom ''

My Mother the Car ''My Mother the Car'' is an American fantasy comedy that aired for a single season on NBC between September 14, 1965 and April 5, 1966. Thirty episodes were produced by United Artists Television. The premise features a man whose deceased mothe ...

'', in which "whatever" was the standard retort used by Captain Manzini (

Avery Schreiber Avery Lawrence Schreiber (April 9, 1935 – January 7, 2002) was an American actor and comedian. He was a veteran of stage, television, and movies who came to prominence in the 1960s in a comedy duo with Jack Burns. He acted in an array of roles ...

) whenever he would mispronounce "Crabtree" (

Jerry Van Dyke Jerry McCord Van Dyke (July 27, 1931 – January 5, 2018) was an American actor and comedian. He was the younger brother of Dick Van Dyke. Van Dyke had a long and successful career mostly as a character actor in supporting and guest roles on pop ...

), the car's owner (son).

Abbreviations

A shorter version, "Evs", made it into

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

pop consciousness when used by Australian rocker

Toby Rand Toby William Lloyd Rand (born 21 December 1977) is an Australian singer best known for being lead singer of rock band RAND, previous band Juke Kartel, and his appearance on '' Rock Star: Supernova''. Currently, he fronts solo project Toby Rand ...

on the American

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

series '' Rock Star: Supernova''. It can also be abbreviated as w/e.

Cultural impact

Marist College Marist College is a private university in Poughkeepsie, New York. Founded in 1905, Marist was formed by the Marist Brothers, a Catholic religious institute, to prepare brothers for their vocations as educators. In 2003, it became a secular in ...

polls of 2009 and 2010, ''whatever'' was voted as the phrase that is "the most annoying word in conversation." The English translation of

Michel Houellebecq Michel Houellebecq (; born Michel Thomas, 26 February 1956 or 1958) is a French author, known for his novels, poems and essays, as well as an occasional actor, filmmaker and singer. His first book was a biographical essay on the horror writer ...

's 1994 novel ''

Extension du domaine de la lutte ''Whatever'' (french: Extension du domaine de la lutte, literally "extension of the domain of struggle") is the debut novel of French writer Michel Houellebecq, which was published in 1994 in France by Éditions Maurice Nadeau and in 1998 in the UK ...

'', which describes the chronically disaffected life"Publisher Comments"
at

Powell's Books Powell's Books is a chain of bookstores in Portland, Oregon, and its surrounding metropolitan area. Powell's headquarters, dubbed Powell's City of Books, claims to be the largest independent new and used bookstore in the world. Powell's City of ...

of a computer programmer, was titled ''Whatever'' for its publication in the United States.

References

External links

*{{wiktionary-inline, whatever Slang 1980s slang 1990s slang 2000s slang American slang Canadian slang Valleyspeak