What have you (often preceded by “or” or “and”) is an informal idiom used at the end of a list to represent other unspecified things, items, or possibilities of a similar kind. It functions as a conversational equivalent to “et cetera,” “and so forth,” or “and other things like that.”
Common Variants & Collocations: or what have you, and what have you
Usage and Function in Conversation
The phrase serves as a convenient conversational placeholder. Rather than reciting an exhaustive catalog of items, a speaker names two or three representative examples and concludes with “what have you” to let the listener infer the rest based on context:
- Household & Physical Goods: “We packed blankets, pillows, flashlights, and what have you for the camping trip.” (Other items of that type)
- Abstract Options & Activities: “You can spend the afternoon reading, hiking, swimming, or what have you.” (Other similar activities)
- Paperwork & Bureaucracy: “Make sure to bring your passport, driver’s license, utility bills, or what have you to verify your identity.”
Punctuation Note: In written prose, what have you is typically set off from the preceding list with a comma (e.g., “…books, magazines, or what have you”). It is rarely hyphenated unless used attributively as a compound noun phrase.
Tone and Register: Informal Placeholder vs. Formal Writing
While standard and natural in conversational speech, what have you is strictly informal. In professional, academic, or legal writing, it tends to sound vague, casual, or unfinished. In formal contexts, writers typically substitute more precise constructions:
- Formal Alternatives: among others, and so forth, and related items, or et cetera (etc.).
- Conversational Counterparts: In spoken English, it shares the function as “and so on,” “and whatnot,” and “and the like.”
Origin and Etymology
The phrase “what have you” used as an idiom dates back to early Modern English, emerging from rhetorical questions used when listing goods or possibilities. In 16th- and 17th-century vernacular, a merchant, vendor, or speaker presenting an assortment of goods might ask or proclaim, “What have you?”—meaning literally, “What else do you possess?” or “What else is available?”
Over time, the phrase fossilized into an indefinite pronoun phrase. Instead of functioning as an active subject-verb-object question asking what someone holds, it shifted into a fixed conjunctive clause meaning “whatever else you might have or think of.”
By the 19th and early 20th centuries, “or what have you” was cemented across American and British English as an everyday colloquial formula to round off informal inventories.
“What Have You” in Regular Questions (Grammar Note for Learners)
For English learners, it is important not to confuse the idiomatic placeholder with standard grammatical questions that happen to begin with the exact same three words. In standard grammar, “what have you…” is simply the inverted question form of the present perfect tense (what + auxiliary verb “have” + subject “you”):
- “What have you done?” (Asking about a completed action or mistake: “What have you done to your hair?”)
- “What have you got there?” (Asking what someone is holding or possessing in their hands.)
- “What have you been up to?” (A common greeting asking what someone has been doing lately: “Hey, long time no see! What have you been up to?”)
- “What have you seen?” (Asking about experiences or observations: “What have you seen around the city so far?”)
How to tell the difference:
- The Idiom: Always appears at the end of a sentence or list, preceded by a comma and usually the word or or and (e.g., “…books, pens, or what have you.”). It is a statement, not a question, and ends with a period.
- The Regular Question: Always appears at the beginning of a sentence, is followed by a past participle verb (like done, seen, been), and ends with a question mark.
Sentence Examples
- “The bakery sells muffins, scones, croissants, and what have you every morning.”
- “If you need tools—hammers, screwdrivers, wrenches, or what have you—check the workbench in the garage.”
- “The kids were outside playing tag, kickball, or what have you until sundown.”
- “He spent his weekend cleaning the gutters, mowing the lawn, and what have you around the yard.”
Similar and Related Idioms
- And Whatnot: An informal placeholder phrase referring to miscellaneous, unnamed items or similar things.
- And So Forth: A standard expression indicating that a list continues in a similar manner.
- And the Like: Referring to additional people, things, or actions of the same general category or type.
- All That Jazz: Informal slang used to refer to related matters, activities, or typical associated elements.
- Et Cetera (Etc.): A Latin phrase meaning “and the rest,” used to indicate that additional unmentioned items follow a pattern.
- Bits and Bobs (or Bits and Pieces): An assortment of small, various items, tasks, or remnants of different kinds.