What's up
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the 4 Non Blondes song, see What's Up (song)
- For the Boston, Massachusetts street newspaper, see Whats Up Magazine
- For a network monitoring tool, see WhatsUp(software)
What's up is an informal expression meaning "what are you doing", "how are you", "what is happening" or "what gives." This expression was made very popular by the cartoon character Bugs Bunny who used it as early as 1940 as part of his catch phrase "What's up, Doc" (where each word was pronounced distinctly).
Whassup (sometimes spelled Wussup or wuzzup) is also a commonly used African American Vernacular English term for what's up, and was the central theme of an advertising campaign for Anheuser-Busch owned "Budweiser" beer brand in the early 2000s.
"Wazzup!" was one of many catchphrases frequently used and popularized by comedian Martin Lawrence on his 1992 sitcom, Martin.
The phrase is often shortened to "sup", and this term is commonly used as an Internet slang. It's very common when playing a MMORPG to read people typing "sup bro?" ("What's up, brother?").
Among Mexican-American street gangs in California, including the Norteños and Sureños, the phrase "what's up" means "there's going to be a fight" when opposing rival gangs confront each other.[citation needed]