Whenever is generally used in Ulster for _when_:--'I was in town this morning and whenever I came home I found the calf dead in the stable.'
Which. When a person does not quite catch what another says, there is generally a query:--'eh?' 'what?' or 'what's that you say?' Our people often express this query by the single word 'which?' I knew a highly educated and highly { 349} placed Dublin official who always so used the word. (General.)
Whipster; a bold forward romping impudent girl. (Ulster.) In Limerick it also conveys the idea of a girl inclined to _whip_ or steal things.
Whisht, silence: used all over Ireland in such phrases as 'hold your whisht' (or the single word 'whisht'), i.e., be silent. It is the Gaelic word _tost_, silence, with the first _t_ aspirated as it ought to be, which gives it the sound of _h_. They pronounce it as if it were written _thuist_, which is exactly sounded _whisht_. The same word--taken from the Gaelic of course--is used everywhere in Scotland:--When the Scottish Genius of Poetry appeared suddenly to Burns (in 'The Vision'):--'Ye needna doubt, I held my whisht!'
Whisper, whisper here; both used in the sense of 'listen,' 'listen to me':--'Whisper, I want to say something to you,' and then he proceeds to say it, not in a whisper, but in the usual low conversational tone. Very general all over Ireland. 'Whisper' in this usage is simply a translation of _cogar_ [cogger], and 'whisper here' of _cogar annso_; these Irish words being used by Irish speakers exactly as their dialectical English equivalents are used in English: the English usage being taken from the Irish.
White-headed boy or white-haired boy; a favourite, a person in favour, whether man or boy:--'Oh you're the white-headed boy now.'
Whitterit or whitrit; a weasel. (Ulster.)
Whose owe? the same as 'who owns?':--'Whose owe is this book?' Old English. My correspondent { 350} states that this was a common construction in Anglo-Saxon. (Ulster.)
Why; a sort of terminal expletive used in some of the Munster counties:--'Tom is a strong boy why': 'Are you going to Ennis why?' 'I am going to Cork why.'
Why for? used in Ulster as an equivalent to 'for what?'
Why but? 'Why not?' (Ulster.) 'Why but you speak your mind out?' i.e. 'Why should you not?' (Kane: Armagh.)