Why

[Arnold Zwicky]

dInIs, about interrogative WHY (voiceless initial) vs. exclamatory WHY
(voiced initial):
 >widepread among the few surviving wh/w distinguishers. I have
 >the same rule.

this comes up every few years.  i have the same distinction, and
have observed it in many other wh/w distinguishers.

i believe that, for me, WHOA and exclamatory WHY are the only
words spelled with initial <wh> that have only voiced initials.

arnold (zwicky at csli.stanford.edu)