Abstract
“Wow!” is a lexical entry in the English Language Inventory. It is used to express surprise in the event of a hearer’s fresh reception of pleasant or exhilarating, and unpleasant information. However, it was observed that contrary to its grapheme representation in Dictionaries and other orthographical authorities, varying spelling patterns are used among staff and students of the University of Calabar. This paper has investigated the different spelling forms of this exclamation and offers some explanations for the diverse spelling patterns of this word. Data have been collected from staff and students of the faculties of Arts, Education, Social Sciences, Law, Management Sciences and Clinical Sciences, after which analysis were carried out using the calculated mean score and Standard Deviation, to authenticate the results. Interviews were also conducted on a select number of the population under study. This study shows the extent the use of indigenous languages bring about a change in the orthography of English, especially on exclamations and attempts to locate the spelling of this word within the mosaic of Nigerian English. It brings the attention of the reading public to these spelling forms as being varied, rather than wrongly spelt.
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