Texan Expression “Do What?”

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Kat, and I’m calling from Dallas, Texas.

Welcome to the show.

What’s on your mind?

Okay, well, I am actually originally from the state of Delaware, and that is where I met my ex-husband.

And he would say, do what? For instance, if I say something and you don’t quite catch it, you know, you might say what or say again or pardon me. But he’d say, do what? And he’s the only person I ever knew who said that.

We moved to Ohio, and I was there for six years. No one said it. So it was just him. I thought it was some weird thing. Then I moved and transferred it to the Texas office. Everybody says do what? And it drives me crazy. And I thought I would be lazy and see if you would do the research for me.

Well, welcome to Texas. That’s what we’re here for. Welcome to the true South. Or Texas maybe is not really the South. Depends which Texan you talk to. It’s just Texas.

Yeah, so Kat, this is spoken with an upward inflection then. I say, hey, Kat, come over here. Do what? Exactly. Do what? Yeah. Yeah, you know, I used to associate this with Gomer Pyle, but now I sort of, when I hear this expression, I picture Matthew McConaughey.

Oh, okay. Can’t you just see him? Yeah, I totally can. Yep. Yeah. Completely. And you will find this all over the South. Do what? Almost exclusively, except by people who learned it from Southerners that live elsewhere in the country.

Yep. And, yeah, and clearly in Texas. It’s interesting that there are a couple of different versions of this. Sometimes you’ll hear people say, do how? Oh, yeah. Or do which? Or do what now? Yeah. Yeah, or do what now? I’ve got family that says that. And they use the disbelief kind of version. Their do what is like, what is this foolish thing that you just said? Not that they didn’t understand you, but they think you just said something dumb.

Yeah. And I’m not sure what the structure of that expression is all about. I’m not sure that you can really break it down. I mean, I picked it up when I lived in Tennessee. Do what? And it was sort of like, at least in my mind, it was like, you want me to do what? How is it that I can help you?

Right. Even though there might not have been an implicit action involved in the thing that they misheard or the thing that the other person said, right?

Yeah. I think that’s where the, does the do throw you? Did that throw you?

Well, no, what threw me was the what, because I will say do what if I know you just asked me to do something.

Right. I’ll say do what.

Right. But these people, they’ll say do what, and when I first got here, I would say do nothing, just listen.

I bet that went over well.

Well, no, he was a young kid, and he’s great, and he told me he thinks that it’s just a polite way of doing, saying it. And I said, well, I don’t really think it is because it implies that I’m asking you to do more than just listen. And even I’m not even asking that because you don’t hear me. It’s just weird to me. So it’s do what? Yeah. That’s the problem with idiomatic expressions.

I say this all the time. You just can’t break it down. Don’t break it down into its component parts. It is what it is. It is simply means what, and it’s nothing else to it. It’s just the same as say again or come again or what was that? Oh. You know, as soon as everybody hears this call, they’re going to come talk to you and tell you exactly how do what fits into their lexicon.

Well, the thing is, I’ve been in Texas for almost two years now, and I refuse to say it.

Oh, really?

I refuse to pick it up. And so when I do say do what, and if anyone tries to point out, say, oh, look, I say, no, you asked me to do something. I didn’t quite catch what you wanted me to do. And they’re like foiled again. But yeah, that’s one thing I refuse to pick up.

Kat, I’m going to make an appointment with you right now. Put this in your daybook. On the day when you actually say it for the first time unselfconsciously, you have to call us because it’s coming. It’s going to happen. It’s so useful. It’s going to pop right out, and you won’t even realize it until a little bit later. It’s the gift that keeps on giving from your ex-husband, it sounds like, right?

Oh, he’s a lovely guy. Don’t hold it against him. He can’t help it. He was raised wrong.

Oh! All of Texas just went up in arms. All of Texas is saying, do what?

Kat, we’re going to let you go now because you’re digging a deep hole that I don’t think you can climb out of.

Well, thank you so much.

Our pleasure.

Talkie does, Kat. Call us again sometime, all right?

Will do.

Bye-bye.

Thanks. Bye-bye.

Well, it’s amazing how much you can say about a little expression like that. We’d like to hear the ones you want to talk about, so call us, 877-929-9673, or send those sayings to us in email. That address is words@waywordradio.org.