Why do so many people spell the word "whoa" as "woah" these days?

Woah, what are you talking about? "Woah" is in, man. Get with the flow.

But really. I think the same thing too when I read that. It takes me half a second longer to process that it's "whoa" and not "wo-ah." It's one of my pet peeves. It looks like a typo--and for me, it usually is. Otherwise, it's "whoa."

I don't like this new English.

**You definitely are not! :)

It's not a typo, it's the inevitability of the 'me' generation going down the tubes. They don't know how to spell the word correctly, so it's used wrongly. The use of phonetics to teach spelling and the abbreviated words in texting (or twittering) is abysmal. Sickens me to see it... And yes, the word 'texting' gets an auto-spell red-line, so it isn't a real word either!!!

Is THAT what they mean by it? Learn something new every single day. Seriously, I usually do not notice, sometimes think it is merely a typo or it occurs to me it could be yet another slang word of which I know nothing.

According to an acronym finder, WOAH is either World Organisation (their spelling) for Animal Health or Women of Achievement and Herstory (again, their spelling - of a newsletter). Maybe the next time we see it, we could question why the person using it was referring to one or the other, as neither have anything to do with the question asked. (Okay, maybe not a great idea.)

To actually answer your questions:

1. Why? Not a clue.

2. Did I miss something? I sincerely doubt it but could be wrong since I so clearly did.

Whoa Or Woah

I can't say that I've seen anyone use "woah" in place of "whoa" yet. Still, this quote from Wikipedia made me laugh (I'm certain someone did this as a joke, look for the misspelling):

"Woah is a newer type version, way better than Whoa. Moar correct, it is sometimes put down as the "slang" version but is better than whoa and all the silly people who use it."

(See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whoa)

EDIT: Thanks reader. Maybe you're right, my eye automatically corrects "woah" to "whoa" when I see it.

I think it has something to do with an original spelling mistake, and it just stuck with people. Also, Woah is more colloquial and Whoa is the proper type of spelling that you'd see in a novel.

I don't like that. In my brain, it is not a word. It won't be until I feel that it has an actual definition different from that of "whoa." I've always used whoa. That's just how that works.

Wow, I didn't know this bothered anyone else! I hate when people use "woah" instead too. I guess people use it for the same reason people misspell things, they just don't know what the right way is so they do what sounds correct.

Whoa ! It wooks to me that you opened a can of woahems heeya. *Grins devilishly* You had betta put'em back in theya -- BACK I say! * Laughs so loud now that next door bangs on wall* *Undaunted, he proceeds wit hiz want by cousulting Elmer* Elmer muses, "Wait, wy don't dey wike de wooad whoahems?" Foghorn responds, "I do deeclair, I believe It's supposed to be whoa, not whoahems. Whoa, that is..." Elmer (in disgust), " Diss witta is stawting to wub me da wong way!"

Hehehe.

Typo I'm thinking...

Like when I spell that, taht.

And cause, cuase.

But someone somewhere along the way thought it was cool and like... totally not a mistake in the slightest... But i'm thinking these new versions of spelling are sad... Like when someone thought that spelling cool, kewl was somehow awesome and not in the slightest ridiculous :P