Word Confusion: Watt versus What

Posted September 28, 2017 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
13 Oct 2022

Sometimes I just gotta ask myself what watt of bulb is that writer burnin’?

Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.

If you found this post on “Watt versus What” interesting, consider tweeting it to your friends. Subscribe to KD Did It, if you’d like to track this post for future updates.

Return to top

Watt	What
100 Watts by TillinKa is under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license, via Flickr. — A lightbulb is rated by the number of its watts.	What? by Paul Harrison is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Flickr.
Part of Grammar:
Noun Plural: watts	Adverb; Determiner; Pronoun
The SI unit of power, equivalent to one joule per second, corresponding to the power in an electric circuit in which the potential difference is one volt and the current one ampere	Adverb: To what extent? Used to indicate an estimate or approximation [Informal; dated] Used for emphasis or to invite agreement Determiner: [Interrog. det.] Asking for information specifying something [Rel. det.; Referring to the whole of an amount] Whatever [Used in exclamations] How great or remarkable Pronoun: [Interrog. Pronoun] Asking for information specifying something Asking for repetition of something not heard or confirmation of something not understood [Rel. pronoun; used in specifying something] The thing or things that [Referring to the whole of an amount] Whatever [Dialect] Who or that [Used in exclamations] Emphasizing something surprising or remarkable
Examples:
I prefer a 75-watt bulb in my lamps. She flashed that 1,000-watt smile, and I was a goner. How many watts does it need? One megawatt is equal to one million watts while a gigawatt is 1,000 megawatts or 1 billion watts. It was just a corrugated-iron-fenced area with a 60-watt light hung over it. A high-output lamp is usually in the 20–60-watt range, sometimes. You can pick up a 150-watt metal halide HQI bulb for about 30 bucks.	Adverb: Oh, what does it matter anyway? See you, what, about four? Pretty poor show, what? Determiner: What time is it? Do you know what excuse he gave me? He had been robbed of what little money he had. What luck! What a fool she was. Pronoun: What is your name? I’m not sure what you mean. What? I can’t hear you. You did what? What we need is a commitment. I want to do what I can to make a difference. The one what got to my house, you moron. What some people do for attention!
Derivatives:
Abbreviation: W, w Noun: gigawatt, kilowatt, megawatt, terawatt, watt-hour, wattage, wattmeter	Adjective: what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) Adverb: whatever, whatevs Contraction: whate’er Determiner: whatever Exclamation: whatever, whatevs, whatsherface, whatserface, whatshisface, whatsisface whatshername, whatsername, whatsis, whatsit Noun: whataboutery, whataboutism, whatchamacallit, whatnot Pronoun: whatcha, whatever Relative Pronoun: whatever, whatevs
History of the Word:
Late 19th century and named after James Watt, a Scottish engineer who greatly improved the efficiency of the Newcomen steam engine and introduced the term horsepower.	Old English hwæt is of Germanic origin and related to the Dutch wat and the German was, from an Indo-European root shared by the Latin quod.

Return to top

C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

Return to top