The word is spelled "whoa". NOT "woah".
Think of it as similar to what, where, and why.

I'm not trying to call anyone out or criticize the hard work that people do for free, but I think that it's a quality issue that can easily be dealt with.

It's a small mistake, but I'm seeing it more and more all across the internet. Especially in manga.
English words that end in -oah are words like Noah that are pronounced "no-ah", not "no".
There is a WOAH and it is an acronym for World Organization for Animal Health, not an expression of surprise.

I'm seriously shocked at how common the misspelling is considering that most spell checkers will call it out. It's even started to overtake the actual spelling, and I know we can do better with such a simple word.
whoa vs woah on reddit

i actually make the "wo-ah" sound instead of "wo" so writing it that way is a better reflection of my speech patterns.
Language is always changing and things like dictionaries take forever to accept new forms of writing.

^ this
Since whoa/woah is just an arbitrary transcription of an exclamation, it's natural that over time, the 'trending' spelling is going to change. (Personally, I prefer woah, since I also say "wo-ah," and whoa reminds me of cowboys yanking on reins.) Besides, as far as I know, there aren't many (or any) other English words that end in -oah, so the pronounciation of whoa is also kinda debatable. Noah isn't a very good example, since it's a name derived from another language. You might as well argue that bean should actually be pronounced bawn, since Sean is pronounced shawn.

But, if we really wanna get down to it, both whoa and woah are incorrect spellings of "wo," which in itself is an alternative spelling of "who."
Maybe scanlators should pull a Waluigi and just translate exclamations as "wah!"

Last edited by baiyang at 9:22 pm, Jan 23 2018

Nope, OP is dead right, whoa vs woah is just a common misspelling, whoa is a word and woah simply is not.

There's not even any debate/U.S. vs European/anything whatsoever about this one, ya'll are just spelling it wrong

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whoa

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/woah

I'm way more bothered by the misuse of "it's" instead of "its". Especially because this mistake is often found even in articles written by supposed journalists. The POTUS isn't above making this mistake as well.

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It's not YEE-HAW IS YAAUUUUYIUUUOHWEOOOHAHHHHHJH!!!

....who cares, you can't misspell a sound that doesn't mean anything

And just who here did you see talking about onomatopoeias, sunshine?

Another mistake I commonly see is was vs were.
Is it "I wish I was rich." or "I wish I were rich."

Here's an article:

The subjunctive mood is a verb form that is used for unreal or hypothetical statements. It is made up of the phrases I were, he were, she were, it were, etc. You often use this form when you are being wishful. For example,

I wish I weren’t so shy.
I wish it were warmer outside.
If I were taller, I could dunk a basketball.
If John were a rich man, he could drive a fancy car.
He acts as if he were the one in charge.
John spends money as if he were a millionaire.

All of the above sentences use the verb were because they aren’t true; they do not describe reality.

In the first two sentences, I am talking about things I wish would happen.

In the third and fourth sentences, I am talking about situations that would happen if I were taller and if John were rich, speaking hypothetically.

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Punctuation marks. A lot of groups don't put effort to give dot and comma in their translations. I'll give an example from a random series I clicked:
Bubble 1: It is obvious that you have been deceiving people thus causing other miseries
Bubble 2: But
Bubble 2: Apparently you have no desire to repent
Bubble 3: Hence
Bubble 4: I hereby sentence you to hell

The higher quality groups usually handle this issue better. For example:
Bubble 1: As I am right now, I can't protect anyone.
Bubble 2: I have my hands full just dealing with myself.
Bubble 3: I don't want to have...
Bubble 4: Such fragile things by my side!

Another mistake I commonly see is the use of you're and your.

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