This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
When I think of the uninflected flat "what," it makes me think of a sarcastic or ironic usage, in which it carries an implied "I dare you to question what I'm doing" and/or "shut up."
Maybe that doesn't make sense to me. It's late.
Shrikesnest: Please quit "fixing" the punctuation on these. This is teh intertronz and we don't use the unwieldly "English Language" around here...
Not an example: "what?" = "did I do something? why are you staring at me".
Groundhog Day. Phil is exploiting his personal Reset Button by eating everything the Tip Top cafe can offer. Rita simply looks at him with a combination of glower, incomprehension, and disbelief. He can do nothing but ask "What?" with a full mouth, making it sound more like "whaate."
Not an example: A non-flat "what!" as a means of intimidating your opponent.
Stone Cold (WHAT?) Steve Austin (WHAT?) invoked this trope (WHAT?) as a heel (WHAT?) when he would try (WHAT?) and intimidate (WHAT?) his opponents. (WHAT?) It caught on (WHAT?) with the fans (WHAT?) and quickly became (WHAT?) so popular (WHAT?) that they chanted (WHAT?) during the National Anthem (WHAT?) and made Austin (WHAT?) a face in the process. (WHAT?) It quickly became (WHAT?) an Overly Long Gag (WHAT?) and would be used (WHAT?) on other wrestlers, (WHAT?) particularly Kurt Angle. (WHAT?)
- What?
