Tuesday 10 August 2010

Whatsoever, nevermind...

I don't think Kurt Cobain spoke Germlish, but if he had, it might have changed the lyrics of Smells Like Teen Spirit. I hear Germans often use "whatsoever" when they should use "whatever", something like "We could serve beef or lamb or whatsoever". This sounds odd but isn't especially confusing. In this example, "whatever" would have been correct. Whatsoever is typically used emphatically in phrases such as "I have no doubt whatsoever that "whatever" shouldn't be used that way." or "I speak no Hungarian whatsoever."