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

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3
  • 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 ♦
    Commented Nov 16, 2014 at 13:01
  • sure - it was in this tweet, joking about something: twitter.com/einxfuereinu/status/533906365786648576
    – bfl
    Commented Nov 16, 2014 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
    Commented Nov 16, 2014 at 20:32

3 Answers 3

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11

In this context WA means WhatsApp so the sentence

Schreib [mir] mal [auf] WhatsApp.

would mean:

Text me on WhatsApp.

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1
  • 2
    Note that this would be very sloppy grammar, approximately equivalent to the English “Write WhatsApp”.
    – Wrzlprmft ♦
    Commented Nov 16, 2014 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.

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12
  • 1
    "...or it is written as in spoken language." -> "wa" in spoken language for "was"? You're sure on that?
    – Em1
    Commented Nov 16, 2014 at 20:22
  • Yeah, the German "was" (which is itself short for "etwas"), not the English "was".
    – Sam
    Commented Nov 16, 2014 at 20:24
  • Of course German... never ever heard it, though.
    – Em1
    Commented Nov 16, 2014 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
    Commented Nov 16, 2014 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
    Commented Nov 16, 2014 at 20:30
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.

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2
  • Yes, "wa" is an interjection commonly used in some regions. But even without context totally unlikely.
    – Em1
    Commented Nov 16, 2014 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
    Commented Nov 16, 2014 at 22:02

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