Wasap is already accepted in Spain as a word by WhatsApp
This is stated by the Urgent Spanish Foundation, which actively participates with the Royal Spanish Academy And it is that it has published a recommendation in which the term wasap is accepted as the noun to designate “free message sent through the WhatsApp application” A term that should no longer take anyone by surprise, and that is that it is one of the versions to mention this application or the messages that are sent through it most used in SpainBut it is not the only word that they have accepted in their use castellanizado
Next to the noun wasap, Fundéu (the aforementioned Foundation) also accepts the verb wasapear , being used to represent the action of “exchange messages by WhatsApp” Two adaptations to Spanish that are valid for respecting the Spelling criteria of the Spanish Language And it is that Fundéu also explains the keys by which these words can be accepted and made into Spanish to use them normally, despite the fact that, along the way, the sound “ts” of the first syllable of the original version is lost.
According to Fundéu, the adoption of the w inwasap is not a problem thanks to the adaptation of other words that already exist in Spanish and that respect the rule of pronouncing this consonant as “ gu”, using as an example web or waterpolo All this without the need to use orthographic symbols such as quotation marks or italics when using these words. In addition, the term wasaps is confirmed as plural to mention various messages from this application, since which is a term acute ending in a consonant cluster
It is even more surprising that the Fundación del Español Urgente accepts as admissible terms the variables with the group “ gu”, that is, guasap and guasapear , keeping the same meaning. However, it states that, as the reference to the original brand is lost due to not maintaining the double V, the terms before described, which keep almost the same sound and characters as in the original word.
It is no coincidence that Fundéu spoke out about WhatsApp , and it is a very widespread tool and the use of which has led to the creation of a good variety of Spanish words to refer to the application. Thus, it is easier to establish a basis for users to know how they should use those words in daily use, avoiding other terms such as “ wasá”
This is not the first time that an organization that defends the Spanish language has ruled on terms referring to social networks and new communication technologies which, coming from English, have led Spanish users to transform and adapt words related to them A good example is Twitter, whose action in Spanish can well be written as tuitear, losing in this case the w, in the same way as in tuit , which refers to the 140-character message published on said social networkAdaptations that are necessary for an audience that does not speak English and that, in this way, can use all these words without fear of making mistakes.
