5

It might be short for “Ich schreib dir mal bei/in wa” or something, but I still can’t figure it out.

It was in this tweet.

Here’s a summary of the main part of the exchange:

Schatz, holst du Kaffee
Ach nö, geh du
Nö du!
Du liebst mich nicht!
Du auch!
Liebt uns das Kind? Schreib mal WA

Wrzlprmft
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bfl
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  • Can you give us some context? While one interpretation suggests itself, there are alternatives and the only way to be certain is knowing the context. – Wrzlprmft Nov 16 '14 at 13:01
  • sure - it was in this tweet, joking about something: https://twitter.com/einxfuereinu/status/533906365786648576 – bfl Nov 16 '14 at 14:48
  • We can only take guesses, but you won't get a definite answer on this. The context is strange anyway ("Liebt uns das Kind?" -> Huh?). It doesn't make sense to write "WA" in upper-case. – Em1 Nov 16 '14 at 20:32

3 Answers3

11

In this context WA means WhatsApp so the sentence

Schreib [mir] mal [auf] WhatsApp.

would mean:

Text me on WhatsApp.

Wrzlprmft
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Moritz
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    Note that this would be very sloppy grammar, approximately equivalent to the English “Write WhatsApp”. – Wrzlprmft Nov 16 '14 at 22:24
4

I interpret wa (as well as wat) as short for was, which is itself short for etwas.

The difference is maybe caused by a typo or it is written as in spoken language.

So the sentence means text something! as a request to you.

A similar example is Komm ma her!, where ma is meant to say mal (which is itself short for einmal) but the l is in certain regions not pronounced in spoken language.

Sam
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    "...or it is written as in spoken language." -> "wa" in spoken language for "was"? You're sure on that? – Em1 Nov 16 '14 at 20:22
  • Yeah, the German "was" (which is itself short for "etwas"), not the English "was". – Sam Nov 16 '14 at 20:24
  • Of course German... never ever heard it, though. – Em1 Nov 16 '14 at 20:25
  • I edited my answer to contain that notice now. "Mal" or "einmal" is used for example in "Bist du schon (ein)mal Achterbahn gefahren?", which is in English "Have you ever taken a ride on a rollercoaster?" – Sam Nov 16 '14 at 20:27
  • I am native German, and I know about "mal" vor "einmal" which is pretty common. And I know that "etwas" is shortened to "was". But shortened to "wa"? It can only be a typo. – Why is it written in upper-case anyway? – Em1 Nov 16 '14 at 20:30
  • I grew up with German as formal language (in CH), and I also haven't seen "wa" as an abbreviation yet, but rather in spoken (perhaps fast speaking) language. Agree with it being a typo in the question. No idea about it being upper-case either... – Sam Nov 16 '14 at 20:34
  • @Em1 Wa is an abbreviation of was, which again can be an abbreviation of etwas... I thought that wa is quite common, or at least widely understood. The upper-case could be for intonation. –  Nov 16 '14 at 23:04
  • @Grantwalzer No, neither common nor widely understood. – Em1 Nov 17 '14 at 09:28
  • @Em1 I can remember it being used frequently on television. And pretty much everybody I know knows it. Even people from Austria (where it's wos in most dialects). –  Nov 17 '14 at 16:18
  • @Grantwalzer Where are from? Southern Germany, I guess? – Em1 Nov 17 '14 at 16:33
  • @Em1 Wa makes you think of Southern Germany? Where are you from, Austria? –  Nov 17 '14 at 16:52
  • @Grantwalzer Because most times when something is unfamiliar to me, it's from Southern Germany dialects. And you brought up Austrian German, which is similar to Southern German in many aspects. – Em1 Nov 17 '14 at 17:51
2

Without knowing the context, and the origin of the quote (interpunction added)

Schreib mal, wa!

we can assume that wa was used as an interjection. Wa is colloquially used in some regions in the meaning of nicht wahr to strengthen the preceding imperativ (schreib mal).

Now that we see the full context in the question's edit it appears to be an abbreviation or acronym rather than the interjection mentioned above.

I am not aware of any chat slang acronym WA, therefore it may also be the initials of the sender we have here.

Takkat
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  • Yes, "wa" is an interjection commonly used in some regions. But even without context totally unlikely. – Em1 Nov 16 '14 at 20:24
  • @Em1: that's why I added the edit here. Written in lower case I couldn't think of anything but an interjection but now that we have the whole context and it is uppercase it's likely an acronym or the initials of the author. – Takkat Nov 16 '14 at 22:02