In the dock: "Whatever"

"Whatever" is a word that can be used to convey at best disinterest, and at worst, utter contempt for a person and what they have to say. It is used in the same sneering context as:

• "(Fuc)k'offf!"
• "P-fah"
• "Yeah right"
  

It wasn't always this way; whatever can be defined as "any(a): one or some or every or all without specification" and it even used to be used in a positive context, for example in Status Quo's Whatever you want. But since the mid 1990s and now in 2005 it has skyrocketted itself to the top of the pile as the favourite dismissive of queens, fag hags and ineloquent teen slags on both sides of the Atlantic.

"Yeah right, whatever."

Those three words tell us so much about who says them, such as:

• Can't be bothered to listen;
• Can't be bothered to have a proper discussion about something;
• Can't be bothered to be
• Can't be bothered to take contraception;
• Face? Bovvered? Right, because I'm not even bovvered, so shut up.

"Talk to the hand, cos the face ain't listening"
"Talk to da booty, cos da hand's off dooty"

All mildly amusing the first time you hear them, but so tiresome after more than three or four times. Desperately sad when people, like my sister, take themselves seriously when they talk like that - accompanied by the RnB-esqe sideways movement of the head and raised hand, palm outward (what the fuck is all that about, sister?).

Nice looking lasses - Whatever!

But returning to "Whatever". I hate this so much because of the attitude it conveys. It actually conveys "attitude", whereby both you and your contribution are deemed worthless and yet those guilty of abusing this word rarely have anything to contribute to a debate.

It makes my blood boil to hear it, even worse if directed at me: little needles start to prick at my tummy; the heat rises through my breast and into my head; I go blind with rage; I could kill.

With the emergence of "whatever", the beligerent and uneducated masses of the western world have been provided with the ideal tool to really get under the skin of others. With this "attitude in a word" they can put on a display that shrugs a "You might care about stuff, but I don't give a fuck", which is delightful.

Whatever? Don't whatever me!