Where does WE come from?
Whatever聽as a disinterested, dismissive, or sassy response dates back to at least 1965, when it was used that way in an episode of the TV show聽Bewitched. In 1995, whatever got a major boost as a kind of “Valley Girl” catchphrase in the teen comedy Clueless.
The internet, particularly chat rooms and messaging services like AIM, were very popular among teenagers in the late 1990s, and it didn鈥檛 take long for whatever聽to morph into the far-faster-to-type WE or lowercase we.
WE appeared in internet slang glossaries by 1999. When social media took off in the mid-2000s, chatters took many of their acronyms with them, including we.
Examples of WE
Who uses WE?
The phrase but WE, for but whatever,聽is often used when sharing art, cooking, or other creations as a way of saying, humbly, 鈥淚 did this thing, and it鈥檚 not perfect, but I hope you鈥檒l enjoy it anyway.鈥�
Some people use WE just to avoid typing extra letters, especially when characters are limited.
Or WE, for or whatever,聽may be used to show that someone is unimpressed.
As a reply, WE聽can be rejective, as if to say 鈥淚 think what you just said is stupid,” “You鈥檙e lying,” or “I just don鈥檛 care what you say.鈥�
Whatever is sometimes abbreviated to WTV or W/E, though the latter is occasionally used for weekend in Europe.
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of WE like most terms we define on 亚洲网紅露点, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of WE that will help our users expand their word mastery.