People say 'you what?' to indicate that they do not believe or accept the remark that someone has just made, or that they have not heard or understood it properly.
[informal, spoken, formulae]
'I'm going to have problems sleeping tonight.'—'You what?'.
'What are you doing here?'—'Oh I work here now.'—'You what?'
See full dictionary entry for what
All related terms of 'you what'
tell you what
You say ' Tell you what ' to introduce a suggestion or offer .
what have you
You say what have you at the end of a list in order to refer generally to other things of the same kind.
what you will
whatever you like
you know what
a thing or person that the speaker cannot or does not want to specify
what do you know
People sometimes say ' What do you know ! ' when they are very surprised about something.
what do you want?
If you say to someone ' what do you want ? ', you are asking them in a rather rude or angry way why they have come to the place where you are or why they want to speak to you.
what possessed you?
If you ask what possessed someone to do something, you are emphasizing your great surprise that they have done something which you consider foolish or dangerous .
you reap what you sow
said to mean that everything that happens is a result of things which you have done in the past
what-d'you-call-it
a person or thing the name of which is unknown , temporarily forgotten , or deliberately overlooked
practise what you preach
to behave in the way that you encourage other people to behave
what are you playing at?
If you ask what someone is playing at , you are angry because you think they are doing something stupid or wrong .
what can/do you expect
You can say ' What can you expect ? ' or ' What do you expect? ' to emphasize that there is nothing surprising about a situation or a person's behaviour, especially if you find this disappointing .
what did you do with
You can ask someone what they did with something as another way of asking them where they put it.
you know what I mean if you know what I mean
You can use expressions such as you know what I mean and if you know what I mean to suggest that the person listening to you understands what you are trying to say , and so you do not have to explain any more.
guess what/do you know what
You say guess what or do you know what to introduce a piece of information which is surprising , which is not generally known , or which you want to emphasize .
to practise what you preach
If you say that someone practises what they preach , you mean that they behave in the way that they encourage other people to behave in.
what are you waiting for
If you say to someone ' What are you waiting for? ' you are telling them to hurry up and do something.
I'll tell you what/I tell you what
You use I'll tell you what or I tell you what to introduce a suggestion or a new topic of conversation .
say what you like about sth
You use ' Say what you like about someone or something' when you are about to mention one good thing about a person or thing that many people do not like.
whachamacallit
an object or person whose name one does not know or cannot recall
to have it/get what's coming to you
If you say that someone has it coming to them, you mean that they deserve everything bad that is going to happen to them, because they have done something wrong or are a bad person. If you say that someone got what was coming to them, you mean that they deserved the punishment or bad experience that they have had.