Comments by "dixon pinfold" (@dixonpinfold2582) on "VICE"
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It's an old-fashioned way of speaking that most people now find affected, strange, annoying, or all three. It has survived in strong families and subcultures the least subject to changes in values and social usages, and thus pronunciation, meaning a small percentage of upper and lower class people. Broadly speaking, the lower-middle and middle classes are where linguistic changes have been most ubiquitous. Geographical region enters into it as well---I would assume the Stewie "wh" is an Appalachian thing too, but I don't know that for a fact .
At one time everyone pronounced "wh" like that. It goes back to Anglo-Saxon, also called Old English. That in turn goes back to Old High German, which English comes from. The w and the h were reversed, including in spelling. So Stewie says, phonetically spelled, "Cool Hwip." Norm MacDonald adheres to the practice, too, having lower class roots. So do quite a few preppy old ladies of the Barbara Walters type. They're all dying off and not being reconstituted in succeeding generations.
So it indicates old-school socially isolated roots, whether lucky or unlucky. (I mean 'hwether', lol.) That's the story, no kidding. Cheers. @ThePParadigm
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