O.C. Writers

By DeAnna Cameron //

Are there words that stop you in your reading tracks when you see them misspelled, like “wierd” instead of “weird” or “alright” instead of “all right”? It’s an occupational hazard for most copy editors, but writers who self-edit tend to accumulate those red-flag words, too.

For me, one that always stands out is “woah,” a misspelling of “whoa.” If I come across it while editing a manuscript, I always change it, and lately I’ve been seeing it a lot.

I’ve been seeing it so much in clients’ work and in general reading that it sent me to the dictionary to double-check myself. I felt better when Merriam-Webster assured me “whoa” is still the accepted spelling and doesn’t even list “woah” as a variant.

However, I checked further and found I’m not alone in noticing the rise of “woah.” Last year, Bradley Olson reported in the Wall Street Journal (“Tales of ‘Woah’ Have Oldsters Saying ‘Whoa’) that many teenagers have a strong preference for the “woah” spelling.

Olson notes that for one 16-year-old he interviewed, “there are only two kinds of people in the world: those who write woah, and ‘old people.’”

Yes, he said old people.

Olson polled 30 teenagers and reported that 29 of them preferred the “woah” spelling. Similarly, a quick check on Google Books Ngram Viewer shows a small but significant uptick in the usage of “woah” as well.

So, what does it mean? For language purists, it doesn’t change anything, at least not yet. “Whoa” is the accepted spelling. If the usage of “woah” grows, however, dictionaries will eventually change to reflect it. Also, middle-grade and young-adult writers may want to consider the preference of their target audience when they use the word.

For me, “woah” will still stop me in my reading tracks, but it won’t trigger an automatic editing change anymore. Now, it will have to be considered in context, and I’ll be keeping a closer eye on the dictionary entry for future changes.

DEANNA CAMERON is the founder and managing director of O.C. Writers. She’s also a hybrid author currently writing YA dark fantasy as D.D. Croix and an occasional copy editor who’s never met an Oxford comma she didn’t like. Learn more at www.DDCroix.com.