Suppose that two people are talking about an event to which they participated together, and one of them says something not exact; the other person makes him notice that, but he thinks to be correct. At the end, the other person convinces him, who replies with "whatever."
Is replying with just "whatever" considered a rude way of answering to a person?
Answer
Yes, it's rude. "Whatever" expresses indifference; often, expressing indifference is dismissive, and in this case, it's dismissive of what the other person has to say. Semantically, it's equivalent to responding with "I don't care".
Being dismissive is what makes it rude. Since "whatever" can express indifference without being dismissive, it's not rude in all situations. If a friend asked me what I wanted to eat, and I replied "whatever" in a non-sarcastic tone of voice, it probably wouldn't be taken as rude. Rather, it would express that I had no particular opinion and that I'd eat whatever they wanted to eat.
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